Sri Lanka Court Releases Tamil Activist Jeyakumari On Bail

10 March, Colombo

A Colombo court Tuesday released Tamil activist Balendra Jeyakumari on bail .

Ms Jeyakumari has been detained for the last one year without being charged. She was arrested months after she led protests against Sri Lankan government when British Prime Minister David Cameron visited Northern Sri Lanka during Commonwealth summit in 2013.

Jeyakumari has however been prohibited from leaving the country by the Colombo Additional Magistrate Aruni Atigala, who also ordered her to appear at the police station on the last Sunday of every month.

Jeyakumari is an advocate for families of those who disappeared during the last phase of civil war in Sri Lanka in 2009.

She was however arrested on suspicion of aiding and abetting K.P. Selvanayagam, a former LTTE cadre. Civil rights groups have been protesting against her arrest since then.