Former PLOTE regional leader on death row acquitted after appeal

The Court of Appeal on Monday (May 20) ordered the acquittal and release of Sivanathan Premanath alias ‘Nedumaran’, a former regional leader in Vavuniya for the former militant group People’s Liberation of Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE), who had been convicted and sentenced to death for the 2009 killing of a doctor in Vavuniya.

The verdict was delivered by a two-judge bench comprising Justices Shashi Mahendran and Amal Ranaraja, following an appeal filed by the defendant against the Vavuniya High Court’s earlier ruling.

Premanath was indicted by the Attorney General for the fatal shooting of Dr. A. Meera Mohideen in Vavuniya on April 20, 2009, during the final phase of the civil conflict. After a prolonged trial, the Vavuniya High Court found him guilty and sentenced him to death.

However, in its judgment on the appeal, the Court of Appeal stated that the prosecution had failed to establish the charges beyond a reasonable doubt. The judges held that the conviction could not be upheld in the absence of conclusive evidence.

As a result, the court ordered Premanath’s acquittal and immediate release.

Nedumaran’, was arrested by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) branch at the Vavuniya Police over the shooting of Dr. A. Meera Mohideen in April 2009.

He was sentenced to death by the Vavuniya High Court on June 08, 2023, more than 14 years after the murder of Dr. Mohideen, who had served as a specialist gynaecologist and obstetrician at the District General Hospital in Vavuniya.