Ousted Lanka president Rajapaksa summoned in court docket over presidential pardon to homicide convict

Ousted Sri Lankan president Gotabaya Rajapaksa was issued a discover by the nation’s Supreme Court for granting a presidential pardon to a former lawmaker of his occasion convicted within the homicide of a celebration colleague in 2011.

Colombo,UPDATED: Nov 24, 2022 17:37 IST

Ousted Sri Lanka president Gotabaya Rajapaksa. (Photo: Reuters/File)

By Press Trust of India: Sri Lanka’s ousted President Gotabaya Rajapaksa was issued a discover by the Supreme Court on Thursday over a presidential pardon granted by him to a former lawmaker of his occasion who was convicted within the homicide of a celebration colleague in 2011.

Rajapaksa, who pardoned Duminda Silva– a former parliamentarian from his Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) occasion, has been issued a second summons since he left workplace in July this yr.

Silva, who was sentenced to loss of life in 2017 for involvement within the 2011 homicide of a celebration colleague and ex-MP, Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra, and 4 others, was freed in June 2021 after Rajapaksa granted him a presidential pardon.

Also Read: From the India Today archives (1991) | Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination: Planned, exact, pulverising

However, the Supreme Court in May this yr quashed the pardoning and ordered Silva to be arrested once more.

He is predicted to seem as a respondent earlier than the Supreme Court on December 16 for the listening to of a basic rights petition filed by Premachandra’s spouse and daughter.

Similarly, in mid-October, the best court docket issued a summons to him to seem in court docket over the 2011 disappearance of two rights activists, Lalith Weeraraj and Kugan Murugananthan from the northern province.

The disappearances came about 12 years in the past quickly after the top of the nation’s lengthy civil warfare when Rajapaksa was a strong official on the Defence Ministry underneath the presidency of his elder brother, Mahinda Rajapaksa.

At the time, he was accused of overseeing abduction squads that whisked away insurgent suspects, important journalists, and activists, a lot of them by no means to be seen once more.

He has beforehand denied any wrongdoing.

Also Read: Sri Lanka’s appearing President declares Emergency, Singapore desires Gotabaya gone | 5 factors

Rajapaksa, 73, was ousted in a well-liked rebellion in opposition to him in July this yr following months of road protests that known as for his resignation.

He fled to the Maldives in mid-July and introduced his resignation from Singapore.

In early September, he returned to the nation from Thailand.

Posted By:

India Today Web Desk

Published On:

Nov 24, 2022