SL driver acquitted from Maldivian assassination plot case

The Sri Lankan driver, who languished in prison in the Maldives for three years accused of involvement in a plot to assassinate a Maldivian President had been acquitted by a court lacking evidence, Provincial Councils & Local Government Faiszer Mustapha said today.

Lahiru Madhushanka is expected to arrive in Sri Lanka, tomorrow.

Speaking to the Daily Mirror from the Maldives the Minister said the Sri Lankan man had been in the Maafushi Prison for three years with no evidence against him.

The driver, Lahiru Madhushanka arrived in the Maldives to seek a business opportunity in 2015 and suddenly found himself accused of being a highly trained sniper trying to kill President Abdulla Yameen.

On 23 October 2015, while waiting for a flight back to Sri Lanka, he was arrested at the airport by plainclothes police who accused him of being involved in a plot to assassinate President Abdulla Yameen.

His family and lawyer said he had since been repeatedly denied access to legal representation, and while in custody had been subject to ill-treatment including prolonged solitary confinement and beatings with cables that caused him to temporarily lose hearing in one ear.

Earlier, the Amnesty International condemned the “Cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment” of a Sri Lankan detained in the Maldives, saying he had been beaten and tortured.

"Following the orders of the President Maithripala Sirisena, I went for the Maldives to look up the case. The case was taken up today. The former President of the Maldives gave us a big support," Minister Mustapha said.

"He had a three-year-old child who did not see his father for three years. During the Three years of time, he had no any connection with his Sri Lankan Family, Minister said.  (Chaturanga Samarawickrama)