Sri Lankan court frees Tamil detainee

A minority Tamil activist was freed on conditional bail by a Colombo court on Tuesday, almost one year since her arrest.

Balendra Jeyakumari was arrested by the police after a Tamil Tiger suspect was allegedly found in her house in the north of the country. She was however never charged over the crime.

Her arrest had led to concerns of human rights groups both locally and internationally who had called for her immediate release as she was being detained without any charges.

She cannot however leave the country as part of the strict bail conditions given to her by the Colombo Magistrate Court on Monday.

Jeyakumari and her daughter Vidushika had actively participated in several protests conducted by families of the disappeared in the Northern Province.

Jeyakumari's two sons were killed in the war and the third went missing after she allegedly handed him over to the military in May 2009. Vidushika is her only remaining child.

The move by the court to release Jeyakumari came a week after the Sri Lankan government said it had decided to review the illegal arrests of suspects during the past few years and those cleared of charges would be set free.

Several people had been arrested by the police without charges following the end of a 30-year war between the Tamil Tiger rebels and the Sri Lankan military which ended in May 2009, resulting in strong reactions from human rights groups.

Sri Lanka's main Tamil Political party the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) had also sought the release of the Tamil detainees as part of an agreement to support the new government at the last presidential elections. Endi