Amnesty International has agreed to depute two barristers from London to appear before the Supreme Court and argue for the acquittal of the 26 accused who have been sentenced to death in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, according to S Doraisamy, counsel for the accused. Doraisamy, who returned to Chennai last week after a month-long tour of the European countries to raise funds for the 26 accused to appeal against their sentence, said on Saturday that besides Amnesty, the International Bar Association in Norway had also agreed to provide the services of a barrister and arrange for international observers to be present in the apex court during the hearing.

The save 26 Tamil Lives from Death Sentence Organisation formed by Tamil leader P Nedumaran, would seek permission from the Bar Association of India for the appearance of the barristers in the case, he added.

Doraisamy said he held discussion with Emma Blower and Sangeetha Anuja of the Asian team of Amnesty international in London and urged them to request the Indian government to delete the death penalty provision from the statute.

He also requested them to provide financial assistance to the tune of Rs 50 lakh to meet the expenses for the case.

On the progress of the case now pending before the apex court, he said the Madras High Court, on a directive from the apex court, had completed the translation of nearly 6 lakh pages of documents from Tamil to English.

The case would come up for hearing on Monday and after completion of arguments, the final order was expected to be passed by the end of this year, he said.

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