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Floating armouries murky not just in SL but worldwide, says HC as Avant Garde Chairman and 6 others freed
View(s):Avant Garde Chairman Nissanka Senadhipathi and six others were unanimously acquitted by the Colombo High Court Trial-at-Bar on Friday over the Avant Garde floating armoury case.
Delivering its verdict, the Bench comprising High Court Judges Adiya Patambendige (President), Manjula Thilakaratne and M.W.J.K. Weeraman noted that former Defence Ministry Secretary Karunasena Hettiarachchi, who testified at the trial, had clearly stated that the floating armoury in the Red Sea maintained by Avant Garde and Rakna Lanka, a company coming under the Ministry of Defence, was completely legal.
The Attorney General had indicted seven accused, including Avant Garde Chairman Nissanka Senadipathi, Rakna Lanka Chairman Victor Samaraweera and the Ukranian Captain of MV Avant Garde, Gennadiy Gavrylov in connection with the discovery of 813 firearms and 200, 935 rounds of live ammunition from the floating armoury.
In its verdict, the court however, stated that based on the ex-Defence Ministry Secretary’s testimony, the vessel possessed a valid licence to transport firearms and ammunition from the Red Sea to the Galle Harbour and hand them over to Rakna Lanka. The prosecution had failed to prove that this document was a forgery, the court said.
The court rejected the argument brought by the AG’s Department of “corporate criminal liability” against the accused. It has noted laws on maintaining floating armouries in international waters to protect shipping continues to be murky not just in Sri Lanka but throughout the world.
The AG’s Department should have been far more careful when serving criminal indictments when there are legal loopholes even in international law regarding the maintaining of floating armouries, especially given that the activities had been conducted based on a legal agreement between Rakna Lanka, a Government owned company and Avant Garde, the court states.
The judges have also questioned why some of the accused had been arrested and indicted. Victor Samaraweera, Rakna Lanka’s Chairman, had been arrested and remanded based solely on his position as Rakna Lanka Chairman.
Three other accused had also been arrested and indicted simply because they happened to work at these companies.
The court has taken special note regarding the fate of the vessel’s Ukranian captain, noting that he had been kept in remand custody simply on account of him being captain of the vessel and that the ordeal had resulted in him being imprisoned in the country without access to his family and even having to undergo heart surgery.
The country’s criminal justice system would have to be reconsidered when looking at these issues, the court has also noted.