The Negombo Magistrate’s Court has found that the deaths at Negombo Prison in July amounted to a crime, and has ordered the Criminal Investigation Department to carry out an investigation and report back, Hiru News reported.
Magistrate Shilani Perera delivered the order on Friday after completing the examination of post-mortem reports and evidence. The court said it had observed that an offence had been committed, and directed the CID to investigate the incident and submit a report.
It is the first formal judicial determination in the case. Until now the proceedings had dealt with autopsies, the naming of suspects and an identification parade, without the court stating a view on whether the deaths were criminal.
How the court says the victims died
The Magistrate said all the deaths were caused by firearms, including rifles, and by assaults with blunt weapons.
That is consistent with the autopsy evidence presented to the same court in July, when 17 of 28 deaths were attributed to gunshot injuries and 11 to blunt-force assault.
Forensic evidence still outstanding
The CID told the court that no Government Analyst’s report has yet been received in connection with the incident, and that no blood samples or DNA reports relating to the firearms have been received either.
More than three months after the deaths, the ballistic and forensic work that would tie particular weapons to particular victims is therefore still incomplete.
106 suspects remanded to October 29
The court was told that 106 suspects have been named — 81 men and 25 women — and that they have been produced for an identification parade. Those figures are unchanged from September, when the CID named 25 female inmates to reach the total of 106.
Magistrate Perera ordered all 106 remanded until 29 October, and directed that suspects not produced at the identification parade be brought before the court via WhatsApp.
Senaka Perera, attorney-at-law and president of the Prisoners’ Rights Association, made submissions on behalf of the inmates who died.
The case has been filed under the Offences Against Public Property Act, the Firearms Ordinance and for murder.
The toll is still reported inconsistently
Hiru’s report states in its opening that the case concerns the killing of 10 officers and 21 inmates — the 31 of its headline — but says later in the same article that 10 prison officers and 22 inmates died, with more than 100 injured.
The second figure matches the toll established in this archive: Justice Minister Harshana Nanayakkara told Parliament in August that 22 inmates and 10 prison officers died, a total of 32, and the same breakdown was used when compensation was paid to the officers’ families. The toll was revised upward over time as two officers died of their injuries in hospital, which may explain a charge framed around 31 deaths at the scene — but no filing says so.
Hiru also describes the dead officers in its opening paragraph as members of the police Special Task Force, and later as prison officers. Every other account of the case, including the compensation payments, identifies them as prison officers.
Not reported
Hiru does not say whether the court named anyone as responsible, whether the CID has been given a deadline, or why the Government Analyst’s reports remain outstanding after more than three months. It does not say how many of the 106 suspects are charged with murder as opposed to property offences, or whether the identification parade has now concluded.
No other verified newsroom had filed on Friday’s order at the time of writing. A search across Daily Mirror, NewsFirst, Daily News, EconomyNext, Daily FT, Island, Colombo Gazette and News.lk returned only coverage of the July and August stages of the case. Ada Derana has been unreachable for 37 days.