Over 11500 military deserters get legally discharged during General Amnesty

 Over 11,500 military deserters from the tri forces have obtained legal discharge during the first three weeks of the one-month long general amnesty period declared by the Ministry of Defense.

The month long general amnesty period was declared from June 13th to July 13th (2016) to enable deserters to obtain legal discharge from their respective services.

According to Military Spokesman Brigadier Jayanath Jayaweera, as of Saturday (02 July) 10,519 Army, 602 Navy and 416 Air Force deserters who left the service have produced themselves to their respective service offices and obtained clearance and legal discharge.

According to the Ministry of Defense, before the amnesty was announced there were about 25,000 personnel on Absent Without Official Leave (AWOL) in the army, 7,137 in the Navy and 510 in the Air Force.

Service personnel who had been away without official leave (AWOL) can obtain their legal discharge by producing themselves together with require details to their respective regiments or their last service station. Navy and Air Force deserters can report to Naval Complex in Welisara and Air Force Headquarters respectively.

National and Service Identity documents and bank account details are required for clearance.

The General Amnesty will end on 13th of July (2016) and legal action will be taken against all those who fail to seek legal discharge during the General Amnesty.