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SRI LANKA
CASE N° SRI/63 - D.M. DASSANAYAKE

Resolution adopted unanimously by the IPU Governing Council at its 190th session
(Kampala, 5 April 2012)

The Governing Council of the Inter-Parliamentary Union,

Referring to the case of Mr. D.M. Dassanayake, Minister of Nation-Building and a member of the Parliament of Sri Lanka, who was assassinated on 8 January 2008, and to the resolution adopted at its 189th session (October 2011); referring also to the report of the on-site mission to Sri Lanka carried out by the Committee in February 2008 (CL/183/12(b)-R.2),

Taking into account the information that Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe, Special Envoy of the President of Sri Lanka for Human Rights, provided to the Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians at the hearing held during the 126th IPU Assembly (April 2012),

Recalling the following: Mr. D.M. Dassanayake was killed on 8 January 2008, along with a bodyguard, in a roadside Claymore mine attack while on his way to parliament; the subsequent arrest of a key Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) suspect operating in Colombo led to the arrest of other suspects whose revelations resulted in the recovery of the remote-control device used to detonate the explosive that killed Mr. Dassanayake,

Also recalling that, in April 2011, Minister Samarasinghe reported that, with regard to the three suspects, an indictment had been issued for W.D. Hyacinth and sent by the Attorney General on 31 March 2011 to the Negombo High Court, and charges of conspiracy and abetting murder were being finalized against the other two suspects; considering that, according to the latest information provided by Minister Samarasinghe, all three suspects have now been indicted; one has confessed and been found guilty, and trial proceedings are pending for the other two, with a hearing scheduled for 27 March 2012,

  1. Thanks Minister Samarasinghe for his cooperation;

  2. Takes note with interest that the court has reached a verdict regarding one of the suspects and wishes to receive a copy thereof;

  3. Trusts that the court will act diligently on the indictment against the other two suspects and would appreciate being kept informed of progress in the proceedings;

  4. Requests the Secretary General to convey this resolution to the authorities and to the sources;

  5. Requests the Committee to continue examining this case and to report to it at its next session, to be held during the 127th IPU Assembly (October 2012).
Note: you can download a complete electronic version of the brochure "Results of the 126th IPU Assembly and related meetings" in PDF format (file size 910 Kb approximately). This version requires Adobe Acrobat Reader, which you can download free of charge.Get Acrobat Reader

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