The Gampaha High Court yesterday (17) sentenced five individuals to death over the brutal killing of an unmarried man and the attempted murder of three others in the Welagedara area 25 years ago.

The court found that the group had broken into a house in Diyakawita, Welagedara, on the night of October 31, 2001, or a nearby date, and attacked the residents with stones, clubs, and swords. The assault left one man dead and three others seriously injured.

Delivering judgment, High Court Judge Rashmi Singappuli ruled that the father, mother, their two children, and another accomplice were guilty of murder and grievous assault, imposing the death penalty on all five. (Newswire)

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El Salvador has published a new law that will allow authorities to penalise minors as young as 12 with life imprisonment for severe crimes, including homicide, terrorism or rape.

On Tuesday, the Salvadoran government released the law, which is slated to take effect on April 26.

The change is part of a suite of hardline policies designed to stamp out gang violence in El Salvador. But critics have warned that such measures risk perpetuating grave human rights abuses.

Since March 2022, El Salvador has been under a state of emergency that has suspended certain civil liberties in favour of greater police and military powers.

Initially designed to last 30 days, the state of emergency has been renewed dozens of times. And over that time, El Salvador’s government has carried out a campaign of mass arrest and imprisonment.

More than 90,000 people have been imprisoned. Groups like Human Rights Watch estimate that nearly 1.9 per cent of the population is behind bars, one of the highest rates in the world.

Some detainees are held without charges. Others have been processed in mass trials, a process approved in 2023 to allow up to 900 people to be tried at once.

The life sentences for minors was approved as part of a constitutional amendment in March, championed by El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele. The country’s legislative assembly is overwhelmingly controlled by Bukele’s Nuevas Ideas party.

On social media that month, Bukele denounced the amendment’s opponents as lenient towards violent crime.

“We shall see who supports this amendment, and who will dare to argue that the Constitution should continue to prohibit murderers and rapists from remaining in prison,” he wrote on March 17.

But in the days that followed its passage, groups including the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) voiced “deep concern” for the prospect that children could be sentenced to life behind bars.

UNICEF warned that imprisonment could result in severe, long-term consequences on child and adolescent development, and added that such measures were unlikely to reduce crime overall.

“The imposition of life sentences and excessively long detention measures on children and adolescents constitute a contradiction of the standards enshrined in the Convention on the Rights of the Child,” UNICEF wrote in a statement with the Committee on the Rights of the Child, a UN monitor.

“These minimum standards require that children in conflict with the law be treated in a manner that prioritizes their rehabilitation and reintegration.”

The new measure lifts certain legal protections for youth offenders, though it does allow for periodic sentence reviews and the possibility of supervised release.

Human rights monitors have repeatedly called on Bukele and the Salvadoran government to put an end to its state of emergency and related anti-crime measures, arguing they violate fundamental human rights.

Just last month, the International Group of Experts for the Investigation of Human Rights Violations under the State of Emergency in El Salvador (GIPES) published its final report, which alleged that crimes against humanity had been committed over the last four years.

The group pointed to comments from Bukele himself, acknowledging that “at least 8,000 detainees were innocent”.

“The figures speak for themselves,” said Jose Guevara, one of the experts included in the report. “These are not isolated cases, but a policy in which crimes are committed on a large scale and in a systematic manner.” (Al Jazeera)

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The Court of Appeal has upheld the death sentence imposed on a man convicted of possessing and trafficking 2.53 grams of heroin, dismissing his appeal against the High Court’s verdict.

The convict, Jayasingham Rajeev, also known as Sudakaran, was found guilty by the Colombo High Court for the possession and transportation of narcotics. He was subsequently sentenced to death.

Delivering the decision, a two-judge bench of the Court of Appeal, comprising Justices Shashi Mahendran and P. Kumaran Ratnam, affirmed the High Court’s ruling.

The case originated from a police raid conducted in the Madampitiya area in Colombo on March 17, 2014. During the operation, the accused was arrested while in possession of 2.53 grams of heroin.

Following the arrest, the Attorney General filed indictments against him in the Colombo High Court on charges of possessing and trafficking heroin. After a full trial, the High Court judge convicted the accused on all charges and handed down the death penalty.

Challenging this decision, Rajeev filed an appeal with the Court of Appeal. In his appeal, he argued that the High Court’s judgment was legally flawed. He contended that the trial judge had failed to consider material inconsistencies in the prosecution’s evidence and had not properly evaluated the legality of his arrest.

However, after reviewing the submissions from all parties, the Court of Appeal bench concluded that the High Court judge had correctly analyzed and evaluated the evidence. The bench stated that the verdict was legally sound and that they found no reason to intervene.

The Court of Appeal further held that the prosecution had successfully proven the charges against the accused beyond a reasonable doubt. Consequently, the appeal was dismissed, and the death sentence was confirmed. (Newswire)

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The Ampara High Court today (10) sentenced six individuals to death in connection with a double homicide that occurred on April 14, 2015.

According to court proceedings, the accused had been consuming alcohol inside a lorry in the Kadupahara village of Kehelulla when two local residents objected to their behaviour. 

In response, the group assaulted the villagers and ran them over with the vehicle, killing them. 

Following a lengthy trial, the court found all six accused guilty and imposed the death penalty for their role in the killings. (Newswire)

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Three suspects arrested in connection with the large haul of drugs recovered off the coast of Beruwala in December 2018 have been sentenced to death by the Colombo High Court.

Two suspects were arrested along with 231.52 kilos of heroin in an overseas trawler on 05 December 2018, following a raid conducted by the Police Narcotics Bureau, based on a tip-off. 

Further investigations had led to the arrest of six more suspects involved in drug peddling.

When the case was taken up for hearing today, the Colombo High Court sentenced to death three of the suspects. (Newswire)

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The Colombo High Court has sentenced five persons to death over the murder of a 21-year-old youth in 2012. 

Issuing the verdict today, the court also sentenced two other persons to life imprisonment over the incident. 

They were sentenced to life as they had been below the age of 18 at the time of the murder. 

The group has been sentenced over the assault and murder of a 21-year-old youth during a clash near a Kovil in Mattakkuliya in September 2012. 

Announcing the verdict following a lengthy trial, Colombo High Court Judge Navaratne Marasinghe said the charges had been proven beyond a reasonable doubt. (Newswire)

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The Colombo High Court has sentenced to death underworld figure SF Sarath for shooting and killing a person in Borella in 2014.

Following a lengthy trial, Colombo High Court Judge Navaratne Marasinghe sentenced K.M. Sarath Bandara to death. 

The judge further acquitted three other accused, including Chaminda Ravi Jayanath alias Dematagoda Chaminda, and ordered them to be released from the case.

A case was filed against the four accused on charges of having shot dead an individual identified as Hettiarachchige Duminda inside a salon in the Wanathamulla area in Borella on 01 August 2014. (Newswire)

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The Colombo High Court has issued capital punishment to a couple for abusing and then causing the death of a 02-year-old child following adoption.

The verdict was issued by Colombo High Court judge Sujeewa Nissanka today (06 Mar). 

A case had been filed by the Attorney General on the incident which had occurred in the Maligawatta area on 01 May 2018.

As the accusations had been proven without a doubt, the judge ordered that the couple, aged around 35 years, be sentenced to death. 

Issuing the judgement, the judge said Police evidence revealed how they had gone to the house and investigated after receiving information that attempts were being made to bury the body of the child without proper medical examinations. 

The Police evidence further states due to suspicion a magisterial inquiry had ordered the postmortem examination to be conducted.

As such, the Judicial Medical Officers’ report had proven that the child had been subjected to severe torture. The child’s body was found with 90 injuries, out of which some were burn injuries and some were due to assault, while there were severe injuries to his testicles as well, the JMO report said. 

The Judge said the JMO’s report proves that the child had been subjected to severe torture and his death had occurred due to intentional violence. The report also claimed that the child died due to multiple injuries caused by burns after being subjected to torture for a long period of time.

The judge said, analyzing all the evidence, it has been confirmed that the deceased child lived in the custody of these defendants, and according to the forensic and medical evidence presented, the defendants are responsible for the death. (Newswire)

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The Colombo High Court today announced that the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka has upheld its previous ruling confirming the death sentences imposed on former DIG Vass Gunawardena and five other accused over the abduction and murder of businessman Mohamed Siyam in 2013.

The Colombo High Court informed the decision after the accused, including former DIG Vass Gunawardena and his son Ravindu Gunawardena, a Senior Police Inspector, and three Police Constables, were produced in court today by prison officials. 

Colombo High Court Judge Aditya Patabandige informed the accused that the Supreme Court had rejected their appeal filed in connection to the case, and had confirmed their death sentences.

Attorney Rahul Jayathilleke, representing the accused, had informed the court that the Supreme Court had not mentioned the date of imposing the punishment, such as since when the imposed punishment is valid, where the punishment was pronounced by the High Court in November 2015.  

Pointing out that the date of imposing the punishment was very important, he requested the court to issue an order in this regard, as it is not mentioned in the Supreme Court order.

Colombo High Court Judge Aditya Patabandige responded that he cannot do so as only the Supreme Court has the power to issue the requested order.

DIG Vaas Gunawardena and the other accused were convicted and sentenced to death for the abduction and murder of Colombo-based businessman Mohamed Shiyam as a contract killing for $50,000 in May 2013. (Newswire)

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A 50-year-old man has been sentenced to death over the murder of a person in Imaduwa in February 2000. 

The Police said the man was sentenced by the Galle High Court yesterday, after a long trial. 

The man is accused of having illegally tapped into the electricity supply and having carefully planned to cause the victim to be electrocuted, resulting in his death.

The suspect sentenced to death is a 50-year-old resident of Imaduwa. (Newswire)

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The Uva Province High Court has sentenced to death an individual accused of murdering his wife after attacking her with an iron rod in the Kandhagolla area in Badulla in June 2010.

The Badulla Police had filed a case at the court accusing the husband of having murdered his wife on 19 June 2010. 

Investigations reveal that the couple had been in a family dispute for a long period of time.

After having confirmed that she was involved in a romantic affair, they had engaged in an argument amidst which the man had attacked the woman with an iron rod. 

Following the attack, area residents admitted her to the Kandhagolla Hospital, from which she was transferred to the Badulla Hospital where she died. 

The Judicial Medical Officer’s report confirms that the woman had died due to internal bleeding. 

Issuing the verdict on the case, the Uva Province High Court said as all charges against the accused had been proven, the suspect was sentenced to death. (Newswire)

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Two former Police officers have been sentenced to death over the demise of a suspect in custody in 2005.

The death sentence was issued by the Colombo High Court when the case was taken up for hearing today (Mar 04).

The two Police officers attached to the Peliyagoda Police are accused of assaulting to death a suspect while in custody at the Police station in 2005. 

The suspect was reportedly apprehended for having committed a robbery. (NewsWire)

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The Colombo High Court has sentenced to death seven (07) fishermen over the murders of three persons in 2012.

According to reports, the suspects are accused of murdering 3 fishermen by throwing them overboard from a trawler.

The murders had taken place after the suspects had hijacked a fishing trawler in an attempt to illegally travel to Australia in 2012. 

The suspects, also fishermen, had allegedly thrown three fishermen overboard the hijacked trawler and had injured several others during their attempt. 

Issuing the verdict on the case today (Jan 24), Colombo High Court Judge Aditya Patabendige sentenced the seven suspects to 29 years of rigorous imprisonment and also imposed a fine of over Rs. 2 million. (NewsWire)

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An individual has been sentenced to death over a murder, nearly 28 years after the incident.

According to reports, the suspect is accused of having shot dead an individual near the Ambalangoda Railway crossing on March 30, 1996.

The case on the incident had been considered at length by the Balapitiya High Court without the chief accused, after which the court issued its verdict on Friday (Jan 19).

The Police said that, therefore, the death sentence was handed down to the second accused. As the suspect is currently overseas, the court order is effective from the time of his arrest.

The accused is a 52-year-old resident of Ambalangoda. (NewsWire)

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Three persons have been sentenced to death over a murder, 31 years after the incident.

The Kalutara High Court imposed the death sentences on the three individuals after finding them guilty of the murder committed in 1992.

Meanwhile, the court also sentenced one person to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment in connection to the murder. 

The verdict was issued by Kalutara High Court Judge Pradeep Abeyratne after a long trial. 

The suspects were accused of having used wooden poles to assault to death a resident of Meegamawatte Colony in the Navunduduwa area. (NewsWire)

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The Kalutara High Court has sentenced to death eight persons over a murder reported 20 years ago.

The suspects were sentenced after being found guilty of killing a person by stabbing him with sharp weapons in 2003.

A resident of Kalil Place in Kalutara South had been stabbed to death by the suspects in March 2003.

Charges were filed against the suspects at the Kalutara High Court by the Attorney General. 

According to media reports, the suspects are residents of Kalutara aged between 43 and 59 years.

After a 20-year trial, the verdict on the case was issued by Kalutara High Court Judge Pradeep Abeyratne today. (NewsWire)

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The Kegalle Provincial High Court has sentenced to death five persons accused of murder in 2014.

The five individuals were accused of having murdered a person by assaulting him with a cement block during a party at a house in the Kahagalla area in Devalagama on 3rd July 2014.

The accused were sentenced to death by Kegalle Provincial High Court Judge Jayaki de Alwis today (08). (NewsWire)

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The Hambantota High Court has sentenced to death four Police officers, including an Officer-in-Charge (OIC) over the death of an individual during a raid on a gambling den in Thissamaharamaya.

The court was informed that a group of Police officers attached to the Crimes Division of the Thissamaharama Police Station had carried out the raid during which they had shot and killed an individual.

The incident is reported to have taken place on 28th June 2005.

Among the four Police officers sentenced to death, two are currently in the Police force, with one officer attached to the Crimes Unit of the Hungama Police and the other attached to the State Intelligence Services.

The court was informed that one Police officer is not part of the Police Force at present, while another is reported to have retired. (NewsWire)

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