Sri Lanka sentences 18 to death in US tea firm case

‘A court in Sri Lanka has given death sentences to 18 men over murdering a US tea company executive in the capital Colombo three years ago, the largest group to be condemned in a single trial in the South Asian country.
The High Court of Sri Lanka on Friday found the men, who were members of a criminal gang, guilty of hacking and beating Nihal Perera to death, in Deraniyagala, a township on the outskirts of the capital, in July 2013.
The 71-year-old victim, a Sri Lankan national, was the superintendent of the Noori Estate tea plantation run by Texas-based firm Walters Bay, and his tragic death caused a massive public outcry against the police at the time. The protesters accused the police of incapability to deal with criminal gangs allegedly led by members of the country’s former President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s party.’
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