Sri Lankan Man Jailed For 50 Years Without Trial

Colombo, Sri Lanka (AHN) -- An 80-year-old Sri Lankan man has been released from prison after spending 50 years on delayed trial, his lawyer said Monday.

D.P. James, was arrested in August 1958, who was then 30-year-old, for attacking and wounding his father with a knife.

He was sent to jail after he was arrested, then moved to a mental hospital for treatment, and then went back to jail, until finally the court had forgotten his case.

James, who was never put on trial, was a victim of prison bureaucracy in Sri Lanka, Lawyer Dharmavijaya Seneviratne said.

"James went to jail when he was 30. He has been robbed of his youth and is now a grey-haired man of 80 with failing eyesight," lawyer Dharmavijaya Seneviratne said.

The prison authorities went through his release only after they noticed the prisoner last month when he became ill and needed to be hospitalized in Colombo.

The lawyer said James did not complain being in detention for a long time because he was ignorant of the law.

A court official said James was released last week on bail and apologized for the "rare, pathetic incident."

Compensation was now being sought, the lawyer said.

"We are preparing the papers to file a case seeking compensation for $14,000 dollars and use the money to pay for his medical and other welfare bills," Seneviratne said.