Hon.
Lohan Ratwatte
MP
ලොහාන් රත්වත්ත
லோகன் ரத்வத்தே
Member of Parliament
for Kandy District
Assumed office
2010
Personal details
Born (1968-06-22) 22 June 1968
NationalitySri Lankan
Political partySri Lanka Freedom Party
Other political
affiliations		United People's Freedom Alliance
Alma materTrinity College Kandy

Lohan Evindra Ratwatte (born 22 June 1968) is a Sri Lankan politician. He is the State Minister of gem and jewelry and a Member of Parliament from the Kandy District. He is the eldest son of General Anuruddha Ratwatte, former cabinet minister and deputy defense minister.

Early life and education

Born on 22 June 1968 in Kandy to Captain Anuruddha Ratwatte and Carman Ratwatte nee Rangala, he was the eldest with one younger brother, Mahendra Ratwatte. The Ratwattes were an old Radala family descending from the courtiers of the Kingdom of Kandy, with Ratwatte, Dissawa of Matale singing the Kandyan Convention. His grandfather Harris Leuke Ratwatte was a colonial era legislator. Lohan Ratwatte was educated at Trinity College, Kandy, where he played rugby and represented the Kandy Sports Club and Upcountry.[1]

Political career

Ratwatte was elected to the Central Provincial Council in 2009 and was elected to parliament in the 2010 Sri Lankan parliamentary election from Kandy representing the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP). In 2012, he was appointed SLFP chief organizer of Pathadumbara by President Mahinda Rajapaksa, succeeding his father General Anuruddha Ratwatta.[2] He served as State Minister of Road Development. He was re-elected in the 2015 Sri Lankan parliamentary election and the 2020 Sri Lankan parliamentary election. In 2020, he was appointed State Minister of gem and jewelry related industries and in December 2020 he was given the additional appointed State Minister of Prison Management and Prisoners Rehabilitation.[3]

Controversies

Lohan Ratwatte was charged for the murder of ten supporters of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress in Udathalawinna during the 2001 Sri Lankan parliamentary election when his father was deputy defense minister. He was acquitted of all charges by the High Court of Colombo in 2006. Five body guards of the Ratwatte family were convicted and sentenced to death.[4]

In September 2021 Lohan Ratwatte received negative publicity over an incident where he reportedly threatened Tamil political prisoners. It was reported that on 12 September an inebriated Ratwatte, the then State Minister of Prison Management and Prisoners' Rehabilitation, had stormed into the Anuradhapura prison and demanded to meet Tamil prisoners being held under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA). When 10 Tamil prisoners were brought to Ratwatte, he addressed them in the Sinhala language; 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 “Para Demala”, and told them to go to India for not understanding Sinhala. Using interpreters, he warned the prisoners not to betray the country to the UN or the Tamil diaspora 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 on his forehead. Ratwatte allegedly stated that the president had authorized him to do whatever he wanted to the Tamil political prisoners and that he could either release them or kill them. Following public outcry, Ratwatte tendered his resignation 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 UNCAT for mistreatment of prisoners and under the ICCPR for “advocating national hatred constituting incitement to discrimination by harassment of Tamil detainees”.[5][6][7][8][9]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Lohan Ratwatte out to promote sports in Kandy". Daily News. Retrieved 28 September 2021.
  2. ↑ "Lohan Ratwatte appointed Chief SLFP Organizer for Pathadumbara". Adaderana. Retrieved 28 September 2021.
  3. ↑ "Lohan Ratwatte appointed State Minister of Prison Management and Prisoners Rehabilitation". The President's Office. Retrieved 28 September 2021.
  4. ↑ "Minister In Sri Lanka Accused of Holding Tamil Prisoners At Gunpoint Must Face Investigation". amnestyusa.org. Amnesty International. Retrieved 28 September 2021.
  5. ↑ Jeyaraj, D.B.S. (2021-09-18). "How Gun-toting State Minister Lohan Ratwatte Terrified and Humiliated Tamil Prisoners at the Anuradhapura Jail". Sri Lanka Brief. Retrieved 2023-06-09.
  6. ↑ "Tamil prisoners file Fundamental Rights petition at Sri Lanka's Supreme Court". The Hindu. 2021-09-30. Retrieved 2023-06-09.
  7. ↑ "Sri Lankan prison minister resigns after alleged inmate threats". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 2023-06-09.
  8. ↑ Palihawadane, Norman. "Ratwatte remains a state minister despite resignation over running amok in prisons". The Island. Retrieved 16 September 2021.
  9. ↑ "THE COMMITTEE REPORT ON LOHAN RATWATTA OBTAINED UNDER THE RTI". Centre for Society and Religion (CSR). 2023-06-08. Retrieved 2023-06-09.
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