Kirthi Fernando –
If the President and the government have a sincere desire to find the truth about the Easter attack and bring the criminals responsible to justice, the Catholic Church requests the President Ranil Wickremesinghe to establish a special prosecutor and an office with full powers to study the investigation of the Easter attack and implement the recommendations.
Presenting this proposal, Reverend Cyril Gamini, the media spokesman of the Catholic Church, pointed out at a media meeting held yesterday (14) that it is a practical task that the President can do by passing other laws within three months, finding provisions and establishing this prosecutor’s office.
presenting the proposal on behalf of the catholic church said.
“We suggest to the President to open an office headed by a Special Prosecutor who has the authority to investigate these matters related to the Easter Sunday attack and file cases accordingly.
This special officer needs to be given all necessary powers to conduct a thorough investigation. It is necessary to provide all the resources for that. He should be a person who can function independently. Act independently and have the power to prosecute.
And he should have the ability and power to get the support of local as well as international intelligence services. In particular, there should be powers to get help from people with local and foreign expertise in criminal investigations. There should be an opportunity to contact the officers who have investigated this so far.
We see this rank being implemented in developed countries.
We are making this request because the office of the Attorney General, who has the power to file cases in our country, is not independent. The Attorney General of our country has not even been able to implement the recommendations given regarding the Easter attack. An independent investigation or prosecution cannot be expected from that position. What we expect is the implementation of a special prosecutor with complete independent special powers from the Attorney General.
Also, it is necessary to send Inspector General of Police Deshbandu Tennakoon and Senior Deputy Inspector General of Police Nilantha Jayawardena on compulsory leave until this case is over.
Today, Suresha Saleh, who is the head of intelligence, is going to retire. This investigation should be done without further extension of his tenure. That is what must be done if we hope for justice to find out the truth about the Easter attack.
Do this if you can. We know that the presidential election is going to be held. This is the proposal we present to the candidates seeking the presidential election. If he is ready to implement this proposal, we think he has a need to do justice to the Easter attack.
