Duminda Silva who was Defence Ministry Monitoring MP during the previous government, is among the five suspects sentenced to death by the Colombo High Court on Thursday for conspiring and murdering trade unionist and former Parliamentarian Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra.
Silva who was originally held at the C 3 wards of the Welikada Prisons. There after he has been transferred to B3 Ward on account of security. Notorious underworld gangster Chaminda Ravi Jayanath alias Dematagoda Chaminda also convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of Bharatha Premachandra was transferred to Pallekelle prisons under tight security of Special Task Force.
Prisons Department officials said the suspects convicted and sentenced to death are taken out of their respective cells for 30 minutes a day for physical exercises. It was reported that former Parliamentarian Duminda Silva was playing cricket with other prisoners on death row during the period allocated for them to conduct physical exercises. “The C ward where convicts on death row have been detained 20 metres in length. It was customary to allocate one such prisoner for cell”
Duminda Silva reported to have made a request to get down food from his home, but the Prisons Department officials turned down the request, a Prisons Department official on condition of anonymity revealed this.
