Brigadier Brigadier ( ) is a military rank, the seniority of which depends on the country. In some countries, it is a senior rank above colonel, equivalent to a brigadier general or commodore (rank), commodore, typically commanding a brigade of several t ...

Rohan Parakrama "Parry" Liyanage, RSP, USP was a

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

n military officer, athlete and coach, who was the former Quartermaster-General and Adjutant General of the

Sri Lanka Army The Sri Lanka Army (; ) is the oldest and largest of the Sri Lanka Armed Forces. The army was officially established as the Ceylon Army in 1949, though the army traces its roots back in 1881 when Ceylon Light Infantry Volunteers was created; ...

. He was the National record holder for

shot put The shot put is a track-and-field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical Ball (sports), ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. For men, the sport has been a part of the Olympic Games, modern Olympics since their 1896 Summer Olym ...

, senior vice president of the Athletic Association of Sri Lanka and National Athletic Coach.

Education

Liyanage was educated at

Royal College, Colombo Royal College, Colombo also known as; Royal Colombo, Colombo Royal College or Colombo Royal) is a Single-sex education, boys' school located in Cinnamon Gardens, Cinnamon Gardens, Colombo, Sri Lanka. Started by Joseph Marsh (priest), Joseph Mar ...

Military career

He joined the army in the first batch of officers to be trained locally at the Officer Cadets’ School of the Army Training Center on 27 April 1968 and was commissioned into the 4th Field Regiment,

Ceylon Artillery The Sri Lanka Artillery (SLA) is the artillery arm of the Sri Lanka Army. It is made up of ten regular regiments and two volunteer regiments. The SLA is headquartered at Panagoda Cantonment, Panagoda. The emblem of the SLA is modeled after that ...

as a second lieutenant. He went on to serve as the

commanding officer The commanding officer (CO) or commander, or sometimes, if the incumbent is a general officer, commanding general (CG), is the officer in command of a military unit. The commanding officer has ultimate authority over the unit, and is usually give ...

of the 6th Field Regiment, Sri Lanka Artillery from September 1988 to February 1990 with the rank of lieutenant colonel. Promoted to the rank of Brigadier, he went on to serve as the Brigade Commander, 6th "Weli Oya" Brigade and commanding officer,

Task Force 1 Task may refer to: * Task (computing), a unit of execution or homeworks * Task (language instruction) refers to a certain type of activity used in language instructional design * Task (project management), an activity that needs to be accomplish ...

Embilipitiya Schoolboys' Affair

At the height of the

1987–1989 JVP insurrection The 1987–1989 JVP insurrection, also known as the 1988–1989 revolt or the JVP troubles, was an armed revolt in Sri Lanka, led by the Marxism–Leninism, Marxist–Leninist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna, against the Government of Sri Lanka. Th ...

, Dayananda Lokugalapaththi, the Principal of Embilipitiya Maha Vidyalaya, got angry at several school boys for mocking the love affairs of his son with another student. Lokugalapaththi had been accused to have had the Army take the school boys to Sevana army camp where they were killed. Colonel Liyanage was the district coordination officer of the area and had been friendly with Lokugalapaththi. The boys were forced to write suicide notes prior to death, forced to eat broken glass and nails, and subsequently buried in the Sooriyakanda mass grave. After a three year trial into the disappearances of the students, the High Court of

Ratnapura Ratnapura (, ; , ) ("City of Gems" in Sinhala and Tamil) is a major city in Sri Lanka. It is the capital city of Sabaragamuwa Province, as well as the Ratnapura District, and is a traditional centre for the Sri Lankan gem trade. It is loca ...

, found Dayananda Lokugalapaththi and several military personnel of the army camp were found guilty of numerous offences under the

Penal Code A criminal code or penal code is a document that compiles all, or a significant amount of, a particular jurisdiction's criminal law. Typically a criminal code will contain Crime, offences that are recognised in the jurisdiction, penalties that ...

and sentenced to prison terms of ten years. Since the bodies of the students were not discovered, they were not charged of murder. The third accused, Brigadier Liyanage was acquitted on the basis there was no direct evidence against him and his acquittal was not appealed by the State Prosecutor. Based on this judgment, Brigadier Liyanage appeal to the

Supreme Court In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

, the denial of his promotion to the rank of major general after he was recommended by the Commander of the Army following his acquittal by the High Court. The Supreme Court found that promotion of other officers in the chain of command during the incident were promoted, it ordered that the recommendation of the Commander of the Army be carried out and compensation given. The Defence Secretary had later reported that the promotion can not be carried out due to the

President of Sri Lanka The president of Sri Lanka ( ''Śrī Laṅkā Janādhipati''; ''Ilaṇkai janātipati'') is the head of state and head of government of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka. The president is the chief executive of the union governm ...

in her capacity as the Commander in Chief, refused to accept the recommendation for promotion and Liyanage had already retired as a Brigadier. Liyanage's appeal to the Supreme Court on this matter resulted in the court stating that it can do no more.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Liyanage, Parry Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Sri Lanka Artillery officers Sri Lankan shot putters Male shot putters Sri Lankan male athletes Alumni of Royal College, Colombo Sri Lanka Military Academy graduates Athletics (track and field) administrators Sinhalese military personnel Sri Lankan brigadiers Place of birth missing (living people)