The Negombo Chief Magistrate has allowed the Criminal Investigation Department to name 24 more suspects in the case over the deaths at Negombo Prison last month, bringing the total number of suspects to 62.
Chief Magistrate Shilani Perera granted the CID’s request on Friday, NewsFirst reported. All 24 of the newly named suspects were inmates held at the prison when the clash occurred. Thirty-eight people had already been named before Friday’s proceedings.
The court ordered that the suspects be produced before it during the day. Hiru News reported that those named include an inmate identified as Katuwellegama Suresh.
Identification parade put back to August 21
An identification parade had been scheduled, but the Magistrate postponed it to August 21 after the court was told that several officers due to appear as witnesses remain in hospital with injuries sustained during the incident.
The suspects produced on Friday were remanded until August 21, and the court directed that the 24 named that day also be brought before it on the same date.
For security reasons the suspects’ names were not read out in open court. CID officers instead handed the list of names and the relevant B Report directly to the Magistrate.
The July clash
The clash at Negombo Prison in July left 32 people dead. Justice Minister Harshana Nanayakkara told Parliament on Wednesday that the toll stood at 22 inmates and 10 prison officers, with 106 inmates and 21 officers injured; Hiru News put the number of officers killed at 11. Earlier reporting had given a lower interim figure.
A committee report on the clash was handed to President Anura Kumara Dissanayake on Thursday. Four suspects were remanded in an earlier stage of the investigation, and autopsies on the dead were completed in July.
