AG appeals Raviraj verdict in High Court

By T. Farook Thajudeen

The Attorney General (AG) has filed an appeal in the Colombo High Court against its judgment in the murder case of former TNA Jaffna District Parliamentarian Nadarajah Raviraj, calling for a retrial.

The AG, through a revision application filed in the High Court, had stated that on the day the judgment was delivered the court had functioned beyond its usual hours, with proceedings continuing until midnight. 

The AG stated that due to this the court had not been able to scrutinise significant points that were revealed during the trial before pronouncing its judgment. 

The AG also asserted in the revision application that the presiding judge had not given any explanation over certain vital issues revealed in the trial which the AG believed to be an omission of the judgment.

Seven suspects, Palana Sami Suresh, Prasad Hettiarachchi, Gamini Seneviratne, Pradeep Chaminda, Sivakanth Vivekanandan, Fabian Royston Toussaint and Sampath Munasinghe, were charged on five counts over Raviraj’s murder.

The Colombo High Court acquitted all those accused in the case, including three Navy intelligence officers, with all seven jurors unanimously deciding that the accused were innocent.

Three of the suspects, Suresh, Vivekanandan and Toussaint, were tried in absentia..

During the preliminary inquiry, four prosecution witnesses asserted that Toussaint and Vivekanandan alias Charan were not in the country while Suresh was either presumed missing or dead. 

Sampath Prithi Viraj, another suspect in the case, was made a state witness by the AG. TNA Parliamentarian Raviraj was shot near his residence in Manning Town, Narahenpita in 2006 while driving his Toyota Land Cruiser Prado along Martha Road.

The shooter was riding pillion on a motorcycle which was travelling opposite Raviraj’s vehicle.