A five member Sinhala Supreme Court acquitted four Sinhala Army personnel earlier sentenced to death in Udatalawinna massacre of 5 Muslims..!!

All accused acquitted in Udatalawinna Muslim massacre case
[TamilNet, Friday, 24 July 2009, 07:42 GMT]

A five member bench of the Supreme Court Friday acquitted four army personnel including a lieutenant earlier sentenced to death in the Udatalawinna massacre of five Muslim civilians during December 2001 general elections. In this case earlier eight persons were charged including the then Deputy Defence Minister General Anurudha Ratwatte and his sons Rohan and Chanuka. The court made the acquittal order when it took up the appeal filed by four army officers.

General Ratwatte and his two sons were acquitted by the High Court Trial at Bar held in Kandy. They were charged of aiding and abetting in the murder. Six army officers indicted with the murder were convicted and sentenced to death by the High Court. Subsequently they filed an appeal against conviction and death sentence.

The Supreme Court discharged one of them when it took up the appeal and inquired into the appeal by other four army personnel.

The order in the appeal of four was delivered Friday.


Chronology:

24.07.09 All accused acquitted in Udatalawinna Muslim massa..
20.01.06 Ratwatte, sons released, 5 sentenced to death in U..
23.11.05 Udathalawinne case concludes, Court's decision in ..
29.01.05 Ratwatte to give evidence in election massacre cas..
04.12.04 Ratwatte to appear in Court in election murder cas..
11.07.03 Supreme Court grants bail to General Ratwatte
10.07.03 Supreme Court to deliver order on Ratwatte appeal
20.06.03 Supreme Court reserves order on General Ratwatte a..
18.06.03 High Court rejects Ratwatte bail application
01.05.03 Ratwatte security tightened - IGP
29.04.03 Security to be tightened for Ratwatte trial
23.04.03 Ratwatte’s final attempt at bail turned down
19.03.03 Udathalawinna massacre case postponed
18.02.03 No confidence motion against Defence Minister defe..
18.02.03 Defense Minister faces No Confidence Motion
23.01.03 Ratwatte's bail petition denied
22.01.03 General Ratwatte further remanded
21.01.03 Udathalawinne massacre accused remanded
20.01.03 Trial-at-Bar inquiry into Udathalawinne massacre b..
17.12.02 Mahen Ratwatte surrenders
16.12.02 Third Ratwatte son to be arrested
15.11.02 Ratwatte released on bail
20.09.02 Ratwatte assets to be scrutinised
02.09.02 General Ratwatte investigation moves to Kandy
29.08.02 Gen. Ratwatte's bank lockers searched
22.07.02 CJ names three judges to hear Ratwatte case
12.07.02 General Ratwatte to be indicted in HC
14.06.02 Ratwatte, his sons, still suspects in massacre
04.06.02 Ratwatte's return provokes commotion in Parliament
24.05.02 General Ratwatte released on conditional bail
13.05.02 Ratwatte, his sons remanded again
15.04.02 General Ratwatte remanded for the sixth time
01.04.02 Gen. Ratwatte transferred to Bogambara prison
18.03.02 Court rejects Ratwattes' medical certificates
23.02.02 General Ratwatte's sons surrender to CID
20.02.02 Gen. Ratwatte indicted in massacre case
20.02.02 Gen. Ratwatte remanded till March 4
19.02.02 Former Defence Minister General Ratwatte arrested
15.01.02 SC rejects Ratwatte sons' FR applications
07.01.02 SC dismisses application by Gen.Ratwatte's sons
17.12.01 Five SLA surrender over Muslims' massacre
14.12.01 Police search Gen. Ratwatte’s home
07.12.01 UNP calls on Police to arrest Gen. Ratwatte
30.11.00 Ratwatte back as Dep. Defence Minister
13.10.00 Police detain Gen.Ratwatte's son over shooting

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The history of the Udatalawinna massacre..........by Shamindra Ferdinando

Now, that all accused in the country’s worst ever single polling day incident have been acquitted and discharged by a five-judge bench of the Supreme Court, it would be pertinent to recall the December 5, 2001 killing of 11 SLMC supporters about one hour after polling ended in the Kandy district and the environment in which the polling was conducted.

The 11 victims were among 45 persons killed and a few hundred wounded in polls related violence during a five-week long campaign marred by a spate of clashes between PA and UNP supporters. Although Kandy had been relatively calm during the campaign, on the day the election clashes erupted between supporters of the then SLFP strongman Minister Anuruddha Ratwatte and the UNP.

Had the then PA government not brought in the army, the Kandy police would have been able to contain the situation, political sources told The Sunday Island.

The SLMC supporters had been accompanying a ballot box from a polling booth at Madawala to the main counting centre when armed persons traveling in two Defender jeeps pursued them and opened fire after their vehicle crashed on to a lamp post. Some of the wounded died while being rushed to the Kandy General Hospital.

Despite the violence, the UNP comfortably won the Kandy district with Keheliya Rambukwella, who subsequently switched allegiance to President Mahinda Rajapaksa, polling 143,235 preferences followed by Tissa Attanayake (99,381), A. H. M. Haleem (75,630) and Rauf Hakeem (71,094) being elected along with three other candidates. The PA managed four seats with Anuruddha Ratwatte polling 102,906 preferences while the JVP won a single seat.

The Udatalawinna massacre took place in the backdrop of a government decision to close down several entry/exit points in Vavuniya and the Eastern Province, thereby denying thousands of voters living in the then LTTE-held areas to exercise their franchise.

Interestingly, the Defence Ministry had failed to direct the STF to close down two entry/exit points in the area under its control. The STF had allowed Tamil speaking voters to enter the government-held area until 1.30 p.m.

The SC on Friday (July 24) set aside the High Court Trial-at-Bar judgment in respect of the election day Udatalawinna massacre. The High Court Trial-at-Bar convicted the accused of murder and imposed death sentence and 20 years of rigorous imprisonment each.

Among the accused were soldiers of the Vijayabahu Infantry Regiment (VIR) arrested by the police for their alleged involvement in the massacre. A Second Lieutenant, in charge of the platoon deployed to bolster security of Anuruddha Ratwatte, was one of them.

The then Army Commander, Lieutenant General Lionel Balagalle, told the CID that an additional platoon had been assigned to Ratwatte’s security contingent following intelligence reports of an imminent LTTE attack on the minister.

Although the men assigned for this task had been either stationed at Boyagane or some other base outside the Northern and Eastern Provinces, the Second Lieutenant hand picked to command the platoon had been on leave from his unit at that time deployed at Colombuthurai, Jaffna.

The police took the whole platoon into custody and then released some of the men after investigations. While a section of the platoon had been deployed at Ratwatte’s Kandy residence, the rest had been assigned duties outside.

The police also recorded a statement of Anil Obeysekera, PC, then Chairman of the CPC, after it was found that the Defender jeeps used in the killing had been released by the CPC.

For almost three months, Ratwatte’s sons, Lohan and Chanuka wanted for questioning by the police in connection with their involvement evaded arrest and gave themselves up on February 23, 2002 days after the police took their father into custody.

Anuruddha Ratwatte was flown to Kandy after being taken into custody in Colombo and produced before the Teldeniya Magistrate Ms Inoka Ranasinghe on February 20 and remanded till March 4. He flown back to Colombo and was admitted to the National Hospital.

The Supreme Court acquitted and discharged the Ratwattes on January 21, 2006.

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