Sri Lankan man spent 50 years in prison without trial

A Sri Lankan man has been released from prison after spending 50 years on remand, his lawyer said yesterday.

D.P. James, now 80, was arrested in August 1958 for attacking and wounding his father with a knife.

He was sent to jail, then moved to a psychiatric hospital, and then discharged back to jail - where he was forgotten about.



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

The prisoner was only noticed last month after he fell ill and was hospitalised in Colombo, forcing prison authorities to go through his paperwork. A local court released him last week on bail, and apologised for the "rare, pathetic incident", a court official said.

The lawyer said compensation was now being sought. "We are preparing the papers to file a case seeking compensation for 1.5 million rupees (14,000 dollars) and use the money to pay for his medical and other welfare bills," Seneviratne said. The sum amounts to 280 dollars for each year spent behind bars.