The LTTE handed over the two homeguards, Sarath Bandara and Chandada Piyasiri, to Trincomalee-based SLMM monitors. The duo had been in custody for 68 days. Later, the SLMM who escorted them out of Sampur formally produced them before Minister Maithripala Sirisena, Presidential Secretary W. J. S. Karunaratne and Public Security Ministry Secretary Tilak Ranaviraja at the Navy House in the Dockyard in Trincomalee. From there, the homeguards spoke to President Chandrika Kumaratunga on the telephone.
Coinciding with their freedom, ten LTTE cadres from the Batticaloa jail were released. They had been remanded for various criminal offences coming under the Offensive Weapons Act. The ten were released on cash bail last Thursday. In a tit-for-tat move, the Tigers say they had also imposed what they called a cash bail on the homeguards.
A guerrilla 'court' imposed a Rs. 100,000 bail on each of them, but eventually the LTTE informed them that on humanitarian grounds the payment would not be required. They also wanted a person living in the LTTE-controlled area to sign as surety, but since nobody came forward, LTTE's Trincoamalee district political leader Elilan signed.
They were also told to appear at the Sampur police station on November 26, but later Elilan informed them it would not be necessary to appear in courts. The two homeguards and their families were later taken to the location where their relatives and members of the North East Sinhala Association were waiting.
Hours before the release, Elilan had come to the site where the relatives of the homeguards and members of the NESA had been carrying on a protest and assured them of the release.
He told them that since a Batticaloa court on Thursday had released ten LTTE cadres on cash bail, the LTTE would do the same for the homeguards. But he added that the LTTE was willing to pay the cash bail if the homeguards' families did not have the money.
Elilan told the relatives that the LTTE had been trying to work out a compromise for the release of the homeguards since they were taken in on August 10, but the government had not agreed.
Elilan invited the relatives and members of the NESA to accompany him to where the homeguards were being held but they wanted an assurance from the SLMM.
The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission which was widely criticised for being unable to exert pressure on the LTTE said yesterday that it had displayed its toughest stand with the LTTE on this matter.
SLMM Deputy Chief Hagrup Haukland told The Sunday Times that the formal communication sent by the SLMM to the LTTE Theoretician Anton Balasingham was a final warning and was 'strongly worded'.
"We are not happy with the way the LTTE is doing things. We have been stern in our communication and informed the LTTE that we wanted an immediate response. Yesterday we had a pledge made by the LTTE Political Wing leader, S.P. Thamilselvan that the home guards would be released at the earliest," the SLMM Deputy Head said.
"We have sent a strong worded letter to them. It is clear that they have gone back on their word. We expect an immediate response from them and we have told them so," he added.
