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Lankan MP to be tried for murder

Silva, who was protected by the previous government under former president Mahinda Rajapaksa, will be tried for the murder of Bharatha Lakshman Premachandran.

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Colombo — The Sri Lankan Attorney General’s department directed the courts to appoint a special trial-at-bar to try Duminda Silva, an infamous parliamentarian, for the shootout and murder of a former presidential advisor.

Silva, who was protected by the previous government under former president Mahinda Rajapaksa, will be tried for the murder of Bharatha Lakshman Premachandran in a shootout on elections day in 2011.

Sri Lanka’s Chief Justice K. Sripavan this week appointed the special trial-at-bar which will comprise of three high court judges instead of one. The trial-at-bar proceeding, which is used chiefly in controversial and celebrated cases will try Silva and 12 others on 17 charges including the murder of Premachandran and four others.

Premachandra, a former legislator and an official of former president Rajapaksa’s staff, was killed on October 8, 2011 when he and Silva, together with their bodyguards shot each other over a row. Silva was also critically injured during the melee.

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