Youth Affairs Minister Namal Rajapaksa has called on the Government to implement a mechanism to release people who have been imprisoned for over 10-15 years due to a delay in case proceedings.
Addressing Parliament today, MP Rajapaksa said a number of young people, including former LTTE cadres are still serving long prison terms without cases being filed against them or due to it not being taken up for hearing.
The Minister said that when he was remanded under the former Government he had come across an LTTE Cadre who had revealed that the key suspect arrested over the charges filed against him has been pardoned and released, while he is still imprisoned.
Namal Rajapaksa said the Government must implement a mechanism to either expedite their cases or to take up the cases for hearings and either punish or release them.
Many opposition MPs praised Minister Rajapaksa’s proposal but pointed out that they were labelled as terrorists when they raised the same issue in Parliament previously. (NewsWire)
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