Janaka Perera killing: 2nd accused pleads guilty

22 August 2014 10:57 am

The second of the two accused, indicted by the Anuradhapura High Court on charges of assassinating Major General Janaka Perera and 29 others in a suicide bombing, pleaded guilty to the charge before North-Western Provincial High Court Judge Sunanda Kumara Ratnayaka.

This case was taken up for hearing today in the Anuradhapura High Court. The second accused Shanmuganadan Sudaharan is a resident of Chenkalady in Batticaloa and an ex-colonel of LTTE. He was remanded till September 5.

After the indictment was read out to the second accused, his lawyer A.K. Chandrakanthan said his client had willingly made his confession in the presence of the then Anuradhapura Chief Magistrate Darshika Wimalasiri.

The lawyer said his client confirmed that the confession which was read out was the one made by him and requested the court to transfer him to another prison because of the threats he would be subjected to from the other terrorist suspects in the Anuradhapura Prison.

The Judge directed the Prison Superintendent to transfer the accused to Welikada Prison and with the confession made by the accused being accepted by Court, Magistrate Darshika Wimalasiri ordered that the witness be released.

The Attorney General had named Magistrate Darshika Wimalasiri as a witness in this case because the second accused had made the confession in her presence when she was Anuradhapura Chief Magistrate.

The two accused were indicted in the Anuradhapura Court on 48 charges. Of the nine suspects arrested earlier seven were released by Court because of the lack of sufficient evidence. One hundred and fifty eight people were named as witnesses in this case.

Major General Perera and 28 others including senior lawyer A.C.S. Hameed, Attorney M. Anurdeen and Attorney Thanuja Rajapaksa were killed in a suicide bomb attack on October 6, 2008. (Upali Ananda)