Misuse of ICCPR Act in Sri Lanka – Media Statement
In the recent past the discourse was on filing cases using the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA). If a case is filed under this act it will take at least a few months to get bail out and also the suspect could be kept in detention under police for few months. The Human Rights Defenders supporting democracy criticized this act because it also has a provision where the statement given by the suspect can be used against him in the courts. Thus there was pressure from civil society groups to abolish this act and the government which was elected in 2015 promised to do this as one of their main election promises.
