SRI LANKA: 13 PERSONS SENTENCED TO DEATH ON THE SAME DAY

September 28, 2023:

13 persons were sentenced to death in two separate cases on September 27, 2013 in Sri Lanka.
In the first case, the Colombo High Court sentenced five people to death for heroin trafficking.
The judge, Namal Ballale, found the defendants guilty of transporting over 152 kilograms of heroin in a fishing vessel, which was intercepted by the Sri Lanka Navy off the coast of Ratmalana in 2019.
In his verdict, Justice Ballale stated that the charges filed by the Attorney General against the defendants had been proven beyond a reasonable doubt. He also noted that the defendants had not shown any remorse for their crime, and that the death penalty was necessary to deter others from engaging in similar activities.
The Kalutara High Court also sentenced to death eight persons over a murder reported 20 years ago.
The suspects were sentenced after being found guilty of killing a person by stabbing him with sharp weapons in 2003.
A resident of Kalil Place in Kalutara South had been stabbed to death by the suspects in March 2003.
Charges were filed against the suspects at the Kalutara High Court by the Attorney General.
According to media reports, the suspects are residents of Kalutara aged between 43 and 59 years.
After a 20-year trial, the verdict on the case was issued by Kalutara High Court Judge Pradeep Abeyratne.
Although Sri Lankan courts give death penalty in serious crimes such as murder, rape and drug trafficking, no executions have been carried out since 1976.