AG requests CJ to appoint trial-at-bar over Rathupaswala shooting case

The Attorney General had sought the sanction of the Chief Justice Jayantha Jayasuirya to indict an Army Brigadier and three other soldiers in a trial –at- bar High Court for the shooting that took place in Rathupaswala on August 1, 2013.

As a result of the shooting some residents were killed and injured at Rathupasawala Welveriya during the protested demanding for clean water for consumption.

The Attorney General had sought the permission of the Chief Justice to indict Army Brigadier Anura Deshapriya Gunawardena and three other army soldiers namely D. Aruna Sirisena, G.M. Thilakaratna and Lalith Gray at the Trial –at- bar for the killing of three civilians and for causing grievous injuries to 16 civilians and non grievous injuries to another 21 civilians during the protest that took place at Rathupswala in 1st August 2013 that demanded for clean water for consumption.

The Army brigadier Anura Deshapriya Gunawardena was alleged to have led the army contingent to Rathupaswala to quell the protest by the residents who pleaded for safe drinking water.

The army who ran amok killed three people and shot injured 33 other protesters Two students were also among those killed by the shooting. Subsequent to the shooting the Brigadier was produced in the Gampaha Magistrate's Court and remanded till May 31, 2013, by Magistrate D.A. Ruwan Pathirana.

However, he had been later appointed as the Military Attaché for Sri Lankan Embassy in Turkey. (T. Farook Thajudeen)