The Court of Appeal has ordered a retrial of the case involving six former army personnel who were acquitted by the Anuradhapura High Court over the 1996 Kumarapuram massacre in Mullaitivu, in which 24 Tamil civilians were killed and 25 others injured.
The order was issued after the Court of Appeal considered an appeal filed by the Attorney General seeking to overturn the judgment of the Anuradhapura High Court.
The ruling was delivered by Court of Appeal Judges Amal Ranaraja and Sumudu Premachandra, who issued separate judgments.
The Court of Appeal accepted the argument by Additional Solicitor General Sudarshana de Silva that the refusal by the High Court judge to mark certain records made during the identification parade constituted a serious technical error.
Justice Sumudu Premachandra further noted that it was inappropriate to reject the documents on the grounds that they did not bear an official seal or date. The court should instead have considered whether the evidence was admissible, he said.
The six former army personnel had faced 101 charges in connection with the incident, which occurred on February 11, 1996. They were acquitted by the Anuradhapura High Court in 2016.
President’s Counsel Tirantha Walaliyadda appeared for the respondent former army personnel.
