The Attorney General has requested the Chief Justice to appoint a three-member judge bench of the Permanent High Court at Bar to hear the case over the Welikada Prison riot in 2012, says the Attorney General’s Department.

“In terms of Section 450 (4) of the Code of Criminal Procedure Act No. 15 of 1979, as amended by Act No. 21 of 1988, information is exhibited to the High Court of Colombo in respect of the commission of offences, including those punishable under Section 355 and 296 of the Penal Code in respect of eight deceased persons within the premises of Welikada Prison,” the Attorney General says in a letter addressed to the Chief Justice.

“Having regard to the nature of the offences; the circumstances relating to the commission the offences; and, complex nature of the available evidence, such information is exhibited before the High Court of Colombo with the view of imploring Your Lordship that a Trial at Bar would meet in the interests of justice,” the letter continues.

“In terms of Section 450 (4) of the Code of Criminal Procedure Code Act read with Section 12 (2) of the Judicature Act, as amended,” the Attorney General requests the Chief Justice to “appoint three judges to the High Court constitute a High Court at Bar for the trial of the accused on charges contained in the said information.”

The Attorney General has further called on the Chief Justice to name one of the three judges as the chairman of the Trial at Bar and to specify the zone in which the trial should be held.

In 2012, clashes had erupted at Welikada Prison in Colombo, as the elite Police Special Task Force (STF) commandos carried out a search inside the prison premise for drugs and smuggled mobile phones.

Twenty-seven inmates had died during the clashes.

The incident was initially written off as an unexpected, isolated incident, accusations were made that the inmates were targeted from a hit list and murdered intentionally.