Justice and Law Reform Minister Milinda Moragoda said he has held discussions with the Attorney General to expedite cases of around 650 detainees held in prison under the Prevention of Terrorism Act.


This matter has already been taken into consideration by Minister Moragoda.


"The expeditious disposal of cases of the detainees has also been discussed extensively at the Justice Ministry and the Defence Ministry Joint Task Force meetings. "The Attorney-General has already established a special unit in the Department, headed by Additional Solicitor General, Palitha Fernando to expedite the consideration of evidence against these detainees.


Over the last two months the Attorney-General has discharged 59 detainees who were held in custody under the PTA and the Emergency Regulations after due consideration of their cases.


The Attorney General's Department has also informed the Minister that they have taken steps to discharge a considerable number of detainees in the month of December.


In addition several suspects have been indicted in the High Court for the commission of offences under the PTA and Emergency Regulations.


The Attorney General has also requested the IGP to instruct his officers to complete the investigations in relation to the suspects and to forward the completed files to the AG to consider the filing of charges in respect of these detainees.

The Minister is confident that the backlog of cases pertaining to the detainees would be cleared expeditiously in the near future.