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EU seeks meeting with BASL president over his personal safety
View(s):The European Union (EU) in Colombo has sought a meeting with Bar Association (BASL) President Upul Jayasuriya for a briefing over his personal safety as more organisations expressed concern over incidents where unknown persons had followed him.
Mr. Jayasuriya was followed by known persons on two motor cycles while returning from courts at Hulftsdorp on Tuesday while unknown persons were also seen around his house on two occasions.
Mr. Jayasuriya confirmed he would be meeting the EU delegation comprising representatives from all member states.
United Nations Human Rights Council representatives, officials from the United States and the Australian High Commission have also contacted Mr. Jayasuriya and expressed concern over the situation. Senior Parliamentarian and UNP member Karu Jayasuriya, Ven. Maduluwawe Sobitha Thera and a large number of trade unions have raised their concern over the developments.
Mr. Jayasuriya has made a further complaint to the Talangama police regarding two suspicious individuals hovering around his house on two occasions during this week.
“My neighbours have also noticed two motor cyclists hovering around my house on Tuesday and Thursday. I was concerned and made a complaint to the police,” he said.
BASL Secretary Ajith Pathirana also said that the suspected vehicle numbers submitted by Mr. Jayasuriya to Colombo Crime Division (CCD) – WP UB-4072 and WP 207-5314 are in fact not registered.
“We got to know that the Registrar of Motor Vehicles have informed the police that these vehicles are not registered and with no owners. But, as Mr. Jayasuriya travelled from Hulftsdorp on to Colombo Fort and then to Flower Road, the Police can obtain CCTV footages of motor traffic from residences and hotels,” he said adding that the police should investigate thoroughly and look into all possible evidence.
“We have a computer data report. Whatever is fed to the computer is in a file. The file should be with the RMV,” he said.
Mr. Jayasuriya expressed his concern over how such vehicles were able to roam around freely in declared high security zones such as President’s residence Temple Trees, and the Prime Minister’s office.
According to the BASL Secretary, members island-wide have been made aware of the incident and their ideas and opinions will be obtained when deciding future action if Police fail to investigate the incident.
“Both the country’s President and Opposition Leader are lawyers and we as an association believe they will do their best to find those who followed the BASL President,” Mr. Pathirana said.
He said the BASL President who left Hulftsdorp had arrived at the Galadari Hotel and had been there for about half an hour. On his way to the Galadari he had noticed a motor-cycle rider with a pillion rider, following his car. While leaving the Galadari, he had observed that the motorcycle that had been parked until he came out continued to follow him.
“The motorcycle had followed him to his office in Flower Road, where he remained for two and a half hours. He (Mr. Jayasuriya) had noticed a three-wheeler arriving and the men in it talking to the motorcycle rider,” he said.
Ex-co member Guneratne Wanninayake said that the 15,000 member BASL is not a politically driven one and that he believed that most of the violent acts where the police were unable to trace the suspects despite evidence, had the Government’s involvement.