Sixteen retired army officers allowed to meet lawyers

(February 19, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Seventeen fundamental rights petitions, filed by another 16 retired Army officers who had been taken into custody on suspicion of supporting General Sarath Fonseka, were taken up before the Supreme Court today.
The petitions were taken up before a bench comprising Chief Justice Ashoka N. De Silva and justices P. A. Ratnayaka and S. I. Imam.

The lawyers appearing on behalf of the 16 retired Army officers requested court that they be allowed to meet with the group being held in custody.

The court, after considering the facts before them, ordered that the lawyers of the respondents named in the petition be allowed to visit the suspects who have been detained.

Earlier, seven retired officers who were detained in the same charges were released subsequent to filing fundamental rights petitions.

However, the lawyers appearing on behalf of them requested that the petitions be taken up for consideration as even thought they were released, their rights were still violated by their detention.

Thereby, the lawyers were instructed to discuss the matter with their clients and inform court of the outcome by March 17.