The Supreme Court acquitted former prison commissioner Emil Ranjan Lamahewa of the death sentence previously handed down by the Colombo High Court. Lamahewa had been convicted for his role in the killing of a prisoner during the 2012 Welikada prison clashes.
The decision came after the Supreme Court accepted Lamahewa’s appeal against the January 12, 2022, death sentence issued by a three-member bench of the Colombo High Court. The five-member Supreme Court bench, which reviewed the appeal, concluded that the initial sentence was not warranted.
On the fateful days of November 9 and 10, 2012, Lamahewa, who served as the prison superintendent of Welikada at the time, was one of the two main defendants in a case involving the deaths of 27 prisoners. The High Court had sentenced him to death while acquitting former Police Inspector Neomal Rangajee, who was also implicated in the case but found not guilty of the same charges.