Sri Lanka’s Minister of Sports and Provincial Council and Local Government has said that alleged Sri Lankan sniper, Lahiru Madhushanka, had spent the past three years “in shock”.
Faiszer Musthapha was in the Maldives’ capital to greet Madhushanka upon his release on Wednesday, after three years in incarceration.
Speaking to RaajjeMV, the minister said that Madhushanka had spent the last three years in shock, away from his family.
Noting that he has a six-year-old child, Musthapha said that it is saddening that he was kept in jail for so long despite being innocent.
Accused of being a highly trained sniper paid to kill then-President Abdulla Yameen by his then-deputy Ahmed Adeeb, Madhushanka was arrested in 2015 and charged with conspiracy to murder. However, his family has maintained that he is a dry fish seller.
While the Criminal Court threw out the case against the Sri Lankan national on Wednesday, Minister Musthapha said that he was pleased with the outcome.
Madhushanka’s release came two days after the minister visited him in Maafushi Prison.
According to a report released by Amnesty International in late October, Madhushanka had been “subject to ill-treatment including prolonged solitary confinement and beatings with cables”.
Furthermore, it noted that his court hearings were conducted in Dhivehi, a language he did not understand, without the presence of a translator.
Maldivian officials have not commented on the accusations made in the report.
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