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Message: <blockquote data-quote="clumsyhulk" data-source="post: 30901903" data-attributes="member: 586988"><p><h3><span style="color: rgb(247, 218, 100)"><span style="font-size: 22px">Forced entry into Ruwanweli Seya</span></span></h3><p>[SPOILER]On 5 December 2020, Ratwatte, accompanied by family members and security personnel, visited the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruwanwelisaya" target="_blank">Ruwanweli Seya</a> shrine in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anuradhapura" target="_blank">Anuradhapura</a> after midnight, beyond the permitted hours of worship. Reports indicated that Ratwatte, who was allegedly intoxicated, attempted to gain entry despite the gates being locked by police at 10 p.m. as per routine practice. He was said to have verbally confronted officers on duty and attempted to force his way into the premises. According to police accounts, Ratwatte was later found lying on the ground in a state of undress. The incident was reported to the Udamaluwa Police Station and brought to the attention of the Swarnamali Maha Seya Viharaya Chief Incumbent, Venerable Pallegama Hemarathana Thero. Ratwatte denied all allegations and no disciplinary or legal action was taken against him following the incident.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lohan_Ratwatte#cite_note-26" target="_blank">[26]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lohan_Ratwatte#cite_note-27" target="_blank">[27]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lohan_Ratwatte#cite_note-28" target="_blank">[28]</a>  [/SPOILER]</p><p></p><h3><span style="color: rgb(247, 218, 100)"><span style="font-size: 22px">W15 shooting incident</span></span></h3><p>[SPOILER]In December 2020, an incident involving Ratwatte (now serving as the State Minister of Prison Management and Prisoners’ Rehabilitation) occurred at the W15 boutique hotel in Kandy. During a dinner with parliamentarian <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S._M._Marikkar" target="_blank">S. M. Marikkar</a> and hotel owner Hisham 'Hardy' Jamaldeen, an argument broke out between Ratwatte and Marikkar over political influence. Following the dispute, Ratwatte allegedly pulled out his <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pistol" target="_blank">pistol</a> and fired multiple shots into the air, causing panic among the guests and their children. He was also accused of forcing the wives of Jamaldeen and Marikkar to hold his pistol and fire it. The incident was later reportedly covered up with the cooperation of those involved, and the hotel bills of guests who witnessed the event were waived in exchange for their silence.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lohan_Ratwatte#cite_note-29" target="_blank">[29]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lohan_Ratwatte#cite_note-30" target="_blank">[30]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lohan_Ratwatte#cite_note-31" target="_blank">[31]</a>   [/SPOILER]</p><p></p><h3><span style="color: rgb(247, 218, 100)"><span style="font-size: 22px">Welikada prison incident</span></span></h3><p>[SPOILER]In September 2021, Ratwatte, accompanied by a group of intoxicated associates, forcibly entered the premises of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welikada_Prison" target="_blank">Welikada Prison</a>. The group, under the influence of alcohol, verbally abused prison staff after being denied access to certain areas, including the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gallows" target="_blank">gallows</a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lohan_Ratwatte#cite_note-32" target="_blank">[32]</a> A prison source alleged that Ratwatte was carrying a pistol at the time, while several of his companions, visibly intoxicated, hurled abuse at officials who attempted to prevent their entry.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lohan_Ratwatte#cite_note-33" target="_blank">[33]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lohan_Ratwatte#cite_note-34" target="_blank">[34]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lohan_Ratwatte#cite_note-35" target="_blank">[35]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lohan_Ratwatte#cite_note-36" target="_blank">[36]</a>  [/SPOILER]</p><p></p><h3></h3><hr /><h3><span style="color: rgb(247, 218, 100)"><span style="font-size: 22px">Anuradhapura prison incident</span></span></h3><p>[SPOILER]In a separate incident, in September 2021, Ratwatte received negative publicity over an incident where he reportedly threatened <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sri_Lankan_Tamils" target="_blank">Tamil</a> political prisoners. It was reported that on 12 September a drunken Ratwatte had stormed into the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anuradhapura" target="_blank">Anuradhapura</a> Prison and demanded to meet Tamil prisoners being held under the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prevention_of_Terrorism_Act_(Sri_Lanka)" target="_blank">Prevention of Terrorism Act</a>. When 10 Tamil prisoners were brought to Ratwatte, he addressed them in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinhala_language" target="_blank">Sinhala language</a>; and when one prisoner protested that they did not know Sinhala, an enraged Ratwatte began verbally abusing the prisoners for not knowing the language despite living in a “Sinhala country”, using the ethnic slur “<em>Para Demala</em>”, and told them to go to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India" target="_blank">India</a> for not understanding Sinhala. Using interpreters, he warned the prisoners not to betray the country to the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations" target="_blank">United Nations</a> or the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sri_Lankan_Tamil_diaspora" target="_blank">Tamil diaspora</a> since the UN was set to take up the island's human rights issues the following week. Ratwatte then brandished his pistol and ordered the Tamil prisoners to kneel before him at gunpoint and subjected them to further verbal abuse. While interrogating the prisoners, he asked them if they had killed any soldiers and threatened to kill one of them by placing the pistol to his forehead. Ratwatte allegedly stated that then-incumbent president <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gotabaya_Rajapaksa" target="_blank">Gotabaya Rajapaksa</a> had authorized him to do whatever he wanted to the Tamil political prisoners, and that he could either release them or kill them.</p><p></p><p>Following public outcry, Ratwatte tendered his resignation as state minister on 15 September and acknowledged his responsibility for the incidents. On 8 June 2023, based on the report of the Justice Ministry’s Committee which found credible evidence of serious human rights violations during Ratwatte’s visit to the prison, the Centre for Society and Religion (CSR) called for Ratwatte to be investigated and prosecuted under the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Convention_Against_Torture" target="_blank">UNCAT</a> for mistreatment of prisoners and under the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Covenant_on_Civil_and_Political_Rights" target="_blank">ICCPR</a> for “advocating national hatred constituting incitement to discrimination by harassment of Tamil detainees”.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lohan_Ratwatte#cite_note-37" target="_blank">[37]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lohan_Ratwatte#cite_note-38" target="_blank">[38]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lohan_Ratwatte#cite_note-39" target="_blank">[39]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lohan_Ratwatte#cite_note-40" target="_blank">[40]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lohan_Ratwatte#cite_note-41" target="_blank">[41]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lohan_Ratwatte#cite_note-42" target="_blank">[42]</a>  [/SPOILER]</p><p></p><h3><span style="color: rgb(247, 218, 100)"><span style="font-size: 22px">Shooting a pet dog</span></span></h3><p>[SPOILER]In October 2022, while serving as the State Minister of Plantation Industries during a visit to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vadamarachchi" target="_blank">Vadamarachchi</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaffna" target="_blank">Jaffna</a>, Ratwatte’s ministerial security officer shot and killed a pet dog that barked at the State Minister. Officials claimed the dog had attempted to attack him. The incident drew criticism from local residents and animal rights activists, who condemned the killing as “inhuman and uncivilised behaviour” and discussed pursuing legal action.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lohan_Ratwatte#cite_note-43" target="_blank">[43]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lohan_Ratwatte#cite_note-44" target="_blank">[44]</a>  [/SPOILER]</p><p></p><h3></h3><p>------ <span style="font-size: 10px">Post added on [DATETIME="UT"]1755428162[/DATETIME]</span></p></blockquote><p></p>

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