The Colombo High Court today ordered to acquit and release nine accused including former senior LTTE leader Emil Kanthan from a case regarding the attempted murder of former Minister Douglas Devananda in 1998.
High Court Judge Piyasena Ranasinghe ordered to release nine accused from the case taking into consideration the insufficient evidence placed before Court against the accused.
Meanwhile, six other accused who were found guilty to the charges were sentenced to ten-and-a-half-year rigorous imprisonment. The Court further ordered each of them to pay a compensation of Rs.10,000. Out of these six accused, five accused had evaded Court since inception of the investigation. The Court issued warrants for the arrest of these five accused.
Emil Kanthan is said to be the former North and Eastern Provinces LTTE Financial Head and he had been named as an accused in connection with the attempted murder of former Minister Douglas Devananda in 1998.
The name of Emil Kanthan transpired during the magisterial inquiry into the controversial RADA case. It transpired in Courts that high profile officials at RADA had gone to the LTTE controlled area in Kilinochchi and had discussions with former LTTE activist Emil Kanthan over reconstructing houses for tsunami-affected people.
In this case, the Attorney General had filed indictments against Emil Kanthan and several other accused in the High Court. Minister Devananda was attacked on June 30, 1998 inside the Kalutara prison, when he visited some LTTE suspects. He was attacked with sharp weapons which caused serious injuries to him. The accused were LTTE prisoners.
Defence counsel Laksman Perera appeared for Emil Kanthan.