Lankan army officer pays Rs 2m to dead LTTE member's family

October 18, 2016 17:51

A retired army lieutenant who was charged with murdering an LTTE member in 1998 today paid Rs 2 million to the victim's family as per a high court ruling.

The Colombo high court in August had sentenced the officer for a two-year rigorous imprisonment and suspended him for 10 years over the death of Robert Velinthan in custody in 1998. The officer was accused of shooting and murdering the handcuffed Velinthan in Point Pedro town in Jaffna district as he was trying to flee the army's custody.

The money was collected on his behalf by the Joint Opposition backers of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

According to the UN estimates, more than 40,000 civilians were killed in Sri Lanka during the final phase of the three-decade long Tamil conflict in 2009. The Sri Lankan government disputes the UN figure.

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