SRI LANKA. MINISTER CLEARED, FIVE CONDEMNED TO DEATH FOR ELECTION DAY KILLINGS

Those killed were escorting ballot boxes for counting

23 January 2006 :

Sri Lanka's High Court cleared a former deputy defence minister and his two sons over the killing of 10 men but handed down death penalties to five soldiers who were involved.
The three-judge bench found former minister Anuruddha Ratwatte and his sons not guilty of killing the 10 supporters of a rival political party on the day of parliamentary elections on December 5, 2001. 
The five condemned men, all soldiers who were providing security to Ratwatte, were also given 100-year jail terms for other charges of unlawful assembly, election violence and obstructing voters.
 

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