Press briefing of Cabinet Decision taken on 2016-07-05

Amendment to Assistance to and Protection of Victims of Crime and Witnesses Act, No. 04 of 2015

- The Assistance to and Protection of Victims of Crime and Witnesses Act, No.04 of 2015 was brought into operation on 16th May 2016. There have been requests to permit the giving of evidence under the said Act, from a remote location outside Sri Lanka, too. Accordingly, the proposal made by Hon. (Dr.) Wijayadasa Rajapaksa, the Minister of Justice, to draft amending legislation to the Assistance to and Protection of Victims of Crime and Witnesses Act, No.04 of 2015, to provide for the victims and witnesses of a crime to record an evidence or a statement through audio-visual linkage, from anywhere outside Sri Lanka, without his personal attendance in Court, and to give such evidence through Sri Lankan diplomatic Mission abroad, while ensuring the freedom and lack of any duress on the witness, was approved by the Cabinet.