Thalatha tells TNA there are no political prisoners

Justice Minister Thalatha Atukorale has denied Tamil National Alliance (TNA) claim that there are still political prisoners nearly a decade after the conclusion of the conflict. Minister Atukorale has stressed that there were persons convicted under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) or being tried or still held pending investigations. The UNPer was responding to a query raised at a media conference in Kandy on Thursday.

Minister Atukorale said that the TNA had been briefed of the situation at a meeting attended by Premier Ranil Wickremesinghe, Opposition Leader R. Sampanthan, TNA MP M.A. Sumanthiran and Attorney General Jayantha Jayasuriya.Atukorale explained the measures taken by the government to address the grievances of those who had been detained. Atukorale’s predecessor Wijeyadasa Rajapakse too had repeatedly denied having political prisoners.