Colombo: Sri Lanka‘s Supreme court suspended the presidential pardon for a murderer linked to the ruling Rajapaksa In a landmark decision on Tuesday, the family ordered his immediate return to jail.
Three-judge bench asks police to arrest Duminda silvawho was facing the death penalty for the 2011 assassination, but was freed in June after the president Gotabaya Rajapakse pardoned him.
“The court has fixed further hearing for September 1, but the police want the interim order to arrest Duminda Silva and return him to jail,” a court official said.
He said the decision was taken after an unprecedented challenge to the President’s clemency.
Former MLA Bharat’s daughter Hirunika Premchandra Laxman – who was shot to death by Silva and his associates – filed a petition saying his release was illegal.
“The Supreme Court’s decision is historic,” Premchandra told AFP.
“No one has challenged the President’s pardon before and I am very glad that the Court has demonstrated its independence.”
The killing took place during a shootout between rival factions of the same political party in the capital Colombo.
Laxman was hit by 24 bullets, mostly on his back, while three of his supporters were also killed.
Silva was injured in the firing by Lakshman’s bodyguards.
President Rajapaksa made Silva the president National Housing Development Authority After running free in June last year.
His release drew international condemnation, with the US ambassador saying it undermines the rule of law in the South Asian nation, which is emerging from decades of war.
Within four months of winning the election in November 2019, Rajapaksa sentenced an army officer to death for slitting his throat. Tamil Civilians, including four children, during the island’s bloody ethnic war.
Staff Sergeant Sunil Ratnayake was to be hanged for the December 2000 massacre, in a case held by previous Sri Lankan governments as an example of accountability over misconduct during the conflict.
Successive governments in Sri Lanka have denied allegations by rights groups that 40,000 Tamil civilians were killed in the final months of the war, which ended in May 2009.
Three-judge bench asks police to arrest Duminda silvawho was facing the death penalty for the 2011 assassination, but was freed in June after the president Gotabaya Rajapakse pardoned him.
“The court has fixed further hearing for September 1, but the police want the interim order to arrest Duminda Silva and return him to jail,” a court official said.
He said the decision was taken after an unprecedented challenge to the President’s clemency.
Former MLA Bharat’s daughter Hirunika Premchandra Laxman – who was shot to death by Silva and his associates – filed a petition saying his release was illegal.
“The Supreme Court’s decision is historic,” Premchandra told AFP.
“No one has challenged the President’s pardon before and I am very glad that the Court has demonstrated its independence.”
The killing took place during a shootout between rival factions of the same political party in the capital Colombo.
Laxman was hit by 24 bullets, mostly on his back, while three of his supporters were also killed.
Silva was injured in the firing by Lakshman’s bodyguards.
President Rajapaksa made Silva the president National Housing Development Authority After running free in June last year.
His release drew international condemnation, with the US ambassador saying it undermines the rule of law in the South Asian nation, which is emerging from decades of war.
Within four months of winning the election in November 2019, Rajapaksa sentenced an army officer to death for slitting his throat. Tamil Civilians, including four children, during the island’s bloody ethnic war.
Staff Sergeant Sunil Ratnayake was to be hanged for the December 2000 massacre, in a case held by previous Sri Lankan governments as an example of accountability over misconduct during the conflict.
Successive governments in Sri Lanka have denied allegations by rights groups that 40,000 Tamil civilians were killed in the final months of the war, which ended in May 2009.