The Mount Lavinia Magistrate has ordered senior journalist Keith Noyahr to be present in Court for the identification parade of the suspects, who abducted him in 2008, when he was the Deputy Editor of The Nation Newspaper.
Keith
The five suspects who were arrested and remanded last month, was ordered to be further remanded till March 16, 2017 today by the Magistrate when the case was taken up.
The Magistrate had informed that Noyahr’s presence was important to identify the suspects. Noyahr, along with his family left the country soon after the abduction incident and has not returned since.
Five army officers, including a Major who have been remanded for allegedly abducting and assaulting Noyahr in 2008, have also been suspended by the Army.
Noyahr was abducted in May 2008 near his residence and was severely beaten but was released the next day. The incident happened just days after Noyahr wrote an article critical of Sarath Fonseka in his weekly military column published in The Nation. Fonseka now serves as senior minister in the present government.
Ahmed L. / March 3, 2017
This is fishy. Probably with the hope Keith’ absence to dismissal
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Amarasiri / March 3, 2017
RE: Court Wants Keith Noyahr At Identification Parade
Delay, procrastination, etc. etc. Nothing new.
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Ahamed / March 3, 2017
Noyhar must be given full protection.
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Common Sense / March 4, 2017
Poor man! After some harrowing experience is it fair to ask him to present him in person in Sri Lanka? If not dismiss the case against the alleged perpetrators? I must add that the judge has no discretion here. From his point of view, which is fair, yes, why not identify the suspects? But following the archaic way of being physically present in court and thereby in Sri Lanka, now poses a grave threat to Keith as the unarrested prime suspect is enjoying power. Moreover as a Field Marshall he has a posse of men who have to be hand picked as his loyalists. My suggestion is that rules for identification be changed so that suspects be shown to Keith via Video Link. There is no problem for Keith to step into a designated place in Austalia for the purpose.
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Silva / March 4, 2017
Yes we live in times with technology at our disposal why not set up a video link for this case!?
He is much safer in the country he is in at the moment…
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justice / March 4, 2017
Has the court sent summons to Keith Noyahr?
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Lanka Watch / March 4, 2017
Probably, Keith Noyahr is not in the country and settled down in another country after the brutal attack on him and that’s is why such an order was issued on him, knowing well that he will not appear in the courts,
risking his life once again, even if he is flown first class from the country where he sort sanctuary.
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Champa / March 4, 2017
What a joke? The photographs of the Intelligence Officers were already taken and published even before they were taken to the Courts.
The Courts is conducting an identity parade only to press charges against the Intelligence Officers who only “happened to be” in that area on that particular day. The Police “seem to have made the job easy for the Courts and the government”.
King Kekille must be laughing in his grave.
I hope Keith will not appear before the Courts so that the case with fabricated charges against the Intelligence Officers could be dismissed.
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Srilal / March 4, 2017
Oh Champa ,
Let me guess , so according to your analysis this poor thing Keith, beat the hell out himself for no reason ;furthermore, this good governance folks want to frame our innocent “Ranaviruwo” for defeating LTTE terrorism from the face of the earth , Right Champa ?
Listen , your murderous Mafia king and his goon brother Gota the Coward are solely responsible for every single unsolved mystery crime from 2005 to 2015. Thanks to our back born-less MY3 and Ranil , Mafia family still flying high. The day that Gota goes to jail would be the most joyful day for every peace loving Sri Lankan.
“King Kekille must be laughing in his grave. “
I thought your boss was the modern King Kakille , wasn’t he ?
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Champa / March 4, 2017
Srilal
Before talking about Keith, let me make few clarifications.
I no longer with Mahinda or the Joint Opposition who took people a ride for 2 years while having a secret pact with Ranil. Actually I left them some time ago and opted to support the President when and where his actions were compatible with my thinking.
Moreover, they (Mahinda + JO) were behind the imprisonment of Wimal on false charges for aiding and abetting ‘someone’ to misuse vehicles, whereas the FCID hasn’t even commenced investigations against that ‘someone’. Interestingly, the investigations against Wimal are still ongoing while the punishment is already in place.. The plans for imprisoning Wimal were afoot in last December and I revealed it elsewhere. I never forgive him for what he did to Wimal, who sacrificed his blood, toll and tears to bring him back. I no longer support the selfish power hungry Rajapaksas who are not even hesitant to victimize their most ardent supporter and the faithful friend for years, to save their skin.
They even steal other people’s ideas and present them to the public as theirs, without a shame.
About Keith Noyahr, the FCID which is remote controlled by Ranil, has no concrete evidence to prove that these Intelligence Officers are the culprits. This is again similar to Wimal’s case. As I see now, the Intelligence Officers are framed on false charges in order to save some others. Those who have a deal with Ranil escape while those who don’t have a deal with Ranil like Wimal and the Intelligence Officers become scapegoats enabling the real culprits go scot free.
I am against this injustice of falsely charging our armed forces for crimes they were not responsible.
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Naga / March 4, 2017
It highly unlikely that Keith will be present in the court for the identification parade.
If the complainant is absent,that will be the end of the case and all the five suspects will be released with the case dismissed. Their suspension orders will be revoked and they will be reinstated in their positions. Every thing would have been done according to law.
Those who decided to charge the Army intelligence officials would have envisaged this scenario when they charged them. The five accused Army intelligence officials will be safe. And most importantly the person or persons who gave the order to these officials will not be exposed. That would be a splendid ending to a much talked about case. All is good that ends good.
The winner will be the Ranil-Sirisena government. That will be good evidence for the government to show to the world that it is not afraid to charge army personnel at a time when Sri Lanka is facing accusations before the UN Human Rights Council that it is dragging its feet in relation to the promised judicial inquiry in relation to war crimes.
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Douglas / March 4, 2017
Champa: Your King “Kekkile” is not dead. He is now playing a new role in a different drama called “Suba Saha Yasa”. In this drama, king Kekkille has taken the role of “Yasa” the “Court Guard” until the actual king (Sirisena or Ranil) falls into a sleep. So don’t give up. Still there is hope.
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Thassim / March 5, 2017
Rape and assault are tools used to humiliate men and women. Why should this man have to re-live his trauma? Why not send a photo array including ones of other men who look a bit like the assailants to Australia? Get him to do an Id using photo arrays but again this has been a long time. But possibly if he was not blindfolded, he will alway remember the sadists who attacked him and humiliated him.
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KalaVeddha / March 5, 2017
A certain General turned politician must be worried and wondering what will develop regionally. Even Iqbal Athas was threatened by him.
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