Welikada: Unanswered questions

Nine long years after the deadly violence unfolded inside the Welikada Prison killing 27 inmates and injuring at least 40 others, the Colombo High Court has convicted one former Prisons Commissioner – Emil Lamahewage – for the crime. 

Following a lengthy trial, a specially appointed three-judge-bench, comprising Judges Gihan Kulatunga, Pradeep Hettiarachchi and Manjula Tilakaratne delivered the verdict into the massacre that took place on 9-10 November 2012. The Trial-at-Bar also acquitted the first accused in the Welikada Prison murders of 2012, namely former Inspector of Police and current, Neomal Rangajeewa. When the killings took place, Rangajeewa served as OIC of the Police Narcotics Bureau (PNB). While the verdict may be seen as a small victory for the families of the victims, in fact it is a greater indictment on a broken criminal justice system. Former Commissioner Lamahewa has been sentenced to death for a crime that killed 27 prisoners, but many others involved in what was a pre-meditated crime have escaped accountability. Nine long years after the violence, one individual has been brought to justice while many others have been exonerated, despite being directly involved in the crime. Given the atrocity in question – the cold-blooded murder of prisoners placed under the custody of the state, the conviction of the former Prisons Commissioner barely qualifies as an effective execution of justice or deterrent to similar atrocities in the future.

The culture of immunity that allows for the summary execution of individuals under State detention will no doubt continue. Constantly there are reports of individuals, especially linked to the narcotics trade being extra-judicially executed while purportedly being taken to show weapons or hidden stashes of contraband. Such blatant violations by the State have been made possible with seeming impunity because hardly anyone is held responsible for such criminal activity. It is hoped that those within the State apparatus who carry out such heinous acts will at least for a moment ponder on the fate of former prisons commissioner Lamahewa who has now been brought to justice for his part in an illegal order. But while his conviction is welcome, it is also a reminder that a crime of this magnitude could not have been organised and executed by a single individual.

The CID investigations into the violence which only really began five years after the fact, revealed many disturbing findings, including that this massacre was pre-planned. The Special Task Force of the police had entered the prison along with IP Rangajeewa to “find narcotics” hidden inside. According to the state prosecutor, eight prisoners were called out by name and killed execution-style. Weapons were later introduced to make it look like the victims had tried to fire at jail guards, according to court documents.

Prisoner welfare groups and witness protection groups have vowed to appeal to the Supreme Court over the Trial-at-Bar decision to acquit Rangajeewa. The senior cop enjoys significant influence, his reinstatement as head of the PNB becoming a major priority for the illegal regime that attempted to grab power through a constitutional coup in October 2018. He was interdicted after being arrested and charged with crimes relating to the Welikada massacre of 2012. The Welikada massacre of 2012 was particularly brutal not only because it exacted a heavy death toll, but because the prisoners were hand-picked for execution, rather than dying because of an outbreak of violence inside prison walls.  Ever since the atrocities were committed, there has been a dispute over its nomenclature – specifically the desire on the part of the authorities to define the violence as a “riot” rather than a massacre. But evidence led during the trial against Lamahewa and Rangajeewa tells a very different story. Witnesses told court that the men who breached the prison gates had a list of names – a list of would-be targets and inmates heard the murderers seek out those prisoners.

Deep and dangerous questions remain about the massacre, about why those prisoners on the list were victimised, and who had the power to send armed men into the Welikada Prison to shoot inmates like they were fish in a barrel.