TWO POLICEMEN TAKEN AS RANSOM TO PRESS GOVERNMENT RELEASE SATHYARAJAH RELEASED AFTER MURDER SUSPECT GIVEN FREEDOM
By Walter Jayawardhana reporting from Los Angeles
July 07.01.10 AM:The two police Constables attached to the Eravur Police station and taken as ransom by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to press government free LTTE murder suspect Subaraj Sathyarajah were released yesterday by the rebel group.
The two policemen who were released near the ‘Kalu Palama’ on the Chenkal Adi –Badulla road yesterday were handed over to the Senior Superintendent of Police, Lasantha de Silva by Leelamani of the LTTE women’s Brigade, without the intervention of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, Police said.
The Policemen, D.S.Nimal Somasiri and A.D. M. Senadheera, abducted while being on duty by the terrorists of the LTTE, were released after the High Court of Batticaloa in its Trincomalee sessions released on bail LTTE murder suspect Sathyarajah .
Before the release the LTTE was also involved in a daring attempted jail break at Batticaloa Prisons for which the government refused to take into custody any suspects. The government also intervened and censored the news items being published in the daily newspapers of Sri Lanka to allegedly conceal the blackmailing of the government by the LTTE while talking peace with the government. Finally, the prosecution of the murder case, the Attorney General, did not oppose the release of Sathyarajah on bail when the murder case was taken up before High Court Judge Subramanium Paramarajah.
An important provincial leader of the Batticaloa political unit of the LTTE under the agreement signed with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was allowed to enter government controlled areas unarmed . But allegedly taking advantage of the permission to enter government controlled areas under the much criticized agreement, Sathyarajah by firing his hand gun killed government intelligence officer, Sergeant K.Thevasooriyan of the 9th Sri Lanka National Guard of the Sri Lanka Army at close range. Since the day of the arrest the LTTE issued public statements demanding his release making the impression that the LTTE was above law and free to kill Tamil intelligence officers of the Sri Lanka Army. The government of Ranil Wickremesinghe itself started the trend by raiding the Millenium Housing Scheme Intelligence unit by pro-UNF police officers, immediately after the formation of the present government.
