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Detained fishermen: 25 freed, 3 face jail
By Marisa de Silva
The legal wrangle between the detained Lankan fishermen and the Diego Garcia authorities still continues, with 25 of the 28 fishermen released on payment of their fines and further fines imposed on the other three fishermen who will remain in custody till their fines are paid.

The fines amount to £24,000 (SLR 4,301,520).
The owner of the boat Sumudhu Putha, L.P. Lal Rohita said he had managed to collect the £6000 (SLR 1.11 million) being the fine imposed by the Diego Garcia Magistrate and make the payment by the due date of September 29. The payment enabled the release of his boat, its captain, P.M. Prabath Nissanka and its four crew members, he said.

However, out of the four fishermen who were stranded on an island near Diego Garcia and picked up by the crew of Mr. Rohita’s boat and were detained together with the crew, three were sent back aboard another boat bound for Beruwela. The fourth fisherman, Pradeep Nissanka, who has been in detention since August 8 this year, has been fined a further £6000 (SLR 1.11 million), Director General of Consular Affairs of the Foreign Ministry, I. Ansar said.
In addition, two other fishermen Ranjith Kumar and Keerthi Weerawarna are still in detention and fined £10,000 (SLR 1,792,300) and £8000 (SLR 1,433,840) respectively, he said. If they fail to pay the fines they may even have to serve a prison sentence, Mr. Ansar said.

Mr. Ansar also said the Diego Garcia Magistrate, in discussions with the Deputy High Commissioner of Sri Lanka in London, had explained that the authorities had to be strict as they had come across many instances where fishermen such as these were made use of by big companies to illegally fish in prohibited waters and later picked up with the catch. The magistrate had said nothing else can be done about this matter and that Sri Lanka would have to challenge this decision legally if at all.

“Now I will have to meet with the fishermen’s families once again and decide on how best to handle this situation. We may have to make an appeal once again or make legal representation, which the respective families will have to arrange on their own” Mr. Ansar said. The next hearing is scheduled for today.

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