Court orders Police to file report on absconding suspect

Colombo Chief Magistrate yesterday ordered the Cinnamon Gardens Police to file a report on the seventh suspect, who is evading court, alleged to have been involved in a protest in 2016.

It had been carried out by the National Freedom Front (NFF) against the arrival of United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Prince Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein to Sri Lanka at the UN office in Colombo 7.

At the outset of magisterial inquiry, sergeant Vijitha of the Cinnamon Gardens Police told Chief Magistrate Ranga Dassanayake that

They said that the protest held opposite the UN Compound in Colombo 7 on February 6, 2016 caused a public disturbance and disrupted the normal flow of traffic in the area

the seventh suspect is evading court. He further said the whereabouts of the suspect were unknown.

The Magistrate, while postponing the case for September 17, ordered the police to file a report in court on that date.

The Cinnamon Gardens Police filed the case in the Colombo Magistrate’s Court against NFF leader and Colombo District MP Wimal Weerawansa and fellow MPS Jayantha Samaraweera, Weerakumara Dissanayake, Piyasiri Wijenayake, Roger Seneviratne, Mohammed Muzammil and Don Lucien for the protest launched by them against the arrival of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Prince Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein in Sri Lanka.

They said that the protest held opposite the UN Compound in Colombo 7 on February 6, 2016 caused a public disturbance and disrupted the normal flow of traffic in the area.