Govt. rejects publishing Welikada prisoner massacre report

• Opposition says public have right to transparency 
• Charge justice has been delayed too long for families   

By Ashwin Hemmathagama – Our Lobby Correspondent

Justice and Prison Reforms Minister Thalatha Atukorale yesterday rejected an Opposition request to publish the investigation report on the killing of 27 unarmed prisoners housed at the Welikada Prison during the former Government. 

According to the Minister, the investigation report covers the incident in-depth, and the names of those who are responsible for the brutal attack on the prisoners on 10 November 2012, along with the recommendations. Therefore, publishing the report will have an impact on the ongoing court case, where the accused will be able to evade the changes.

“We have had to submit a considerable number of firearms to the Government Analyst. A few rounds need to be fired from each weapon to identify the weapons used to kill prisoners. This is not an easy task. Government Analyst is working on it. The progress has been reported to the Court, and a few were arrested,” said the Minister, explaining the reasons for the delay on a crime which took place six years ago.

Rejecting the Government explanation and the reasons for the delay, Opposition lawmaker Dr Nalinda Jayathissa charged the Government with taking less interest on a matter that shocked the world, and for beginning to exert pressure on the family members of the prisoners who died from the attack to not support the court procedure.

“This is an incident took place in a prison, which housed convicts under Government protection. During the incident, at least 27 inmates or more were killed. The Committee report was also published some years ago. You are reluctant to divulge the recommendations of that report, claiming such disclosure will have an adverse impact over the investigations. This is a serious crime and we would like to know the reasons which prevent you from taking action to punish those who are responsible,” he said.

Drawing links between the prisoners killed on 10 November inside the Welikada Prison and the Rajapaksa Government, he said: “Some of those who were killed were the people who were engaged in diverse criminal activities under the previous Government. Names of the strongmen of the last Government are well connected in the crimes committed by those who were killed while in prison. We wonder if the killing of them was an attempt to close the crimes from coming out. This is not a report that you need to hide when certain newspapers carried parts of it along with the photographs. Family members of those prisoners killed receive threats not to take part in the investigation, which looks into the killing of their loved ones. Justice delayed is justice denied.”

Referring to the recent attack on the inmates at Angunakolapelessa, Prison Minister Atukorale also held that even though the Welikada incident has no connection, she will take disciplinary action against the officers who were involved, and those who leaked the controversial video clip to media.

“There is no connection between the 2012 Welikada incident and the recent Angunakolapelessa incident. The provisions of the Prison Act provide for the officers to take action to control any incident taking place inside a prison. I accept that when there was no Government, on 16 November an inmate has killed another prisoner who was prisoned for the Hokandara murders. But the incident you are referring to at Angunakolapelessa on 22 November was an action taken to control one inmate attacking another inmate. The prison officer went inside to prevent the brawl were attacked. So, the prison officers had to take action. Anyway, we will take action to find out how an internal video come out,” she said.

The Welikada prison riot broke out on 9 November 2012 during a search for illegal arms. The riot left 27 people dead and 40 injured by 10 November. Welikada Prison houses 4,000 prisoners convicted of crimes from petty theft to death row in a centuries-old crammed up space originally designed to house 1,000 during the colonial era.