Ranil raises bloody prison riots in Parliament

By Ashwin Hemmathagama

Our Lobby Correspondent

Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe raised a host of issues concerning the bloody riots at the Welikada Prison on Friday.

“I have two matters to raise: The first matter is, we would like to know whether a magisterial inquiry will be held and whether the Police officers will be investigated. As the Minister said, there are so many issues, like how they were able to access the weapons, and why such a large number of people died,” Wickremesinghe said.

“You will need a separate or a special Police unit, of whom people will be confident because they will have to produce evidence before the magistrate. The coroner can reason out the deaths now, but I would ask the Government to ensure that they have a special Police unit and some of the senior members of the Prisons Department. Unfortunately, the Commissioners are no longer taken from the Prisons Department, who are also involved in it,” charged Ranil.

He made these observations after Rehabilitation and Prison Reforms Minister Chandrasiri Gajadeera made a special statement in Parliament, clarifying the incident at the Welikada Prison, which houses 3,621 inmates, the deaths, the damage of Government property, and missing weapons.

“It is a routine for the Prison Department to conduct searches. But we had to seek help from the Police Special task Force (STF), with the prison officers not being allowed to check two wards, which house 900 inmates, on three occasions. The Prison Department lacks the necessary manpower as well as the high-tech equipment required for such search operations. Having conducted the respective search successfully, the prison officers and STF personnel came out, but the inmates also came out breaking the doors and started to attack. They took 82 firearms after breaking in the armour,” he said.

“Among the wounded are 13 STF personnel, four Army personnel, a prison officer, and a civilian. Even if the prison officials were unable to control the situation, there were 25 officers who remained inside at the time, requesting the prisoners to hand over the stolen weapons,” Minister Gajadeera said.