• AG tells SC that Prez won’t sign death warrants on court verdicts  

Attorney General (AG), President's Counsel (PC) Sanjay Rajaratnam yesterday (23) informed the Supreme Court (SC) that President Ranil Wickremesinghe would not place his signature on the verdicts delivered by any court of law in the country to implement the capital punishment.

A total of 10 Fundamental Rights (FR) Petitions filed by several parties including the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA), its Executive Director Dr. Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu, and Attorney-at-Law Kavindu Hewa Geeganage against the resumption of the death penalty proposed by then President and incumbent Opposition Parliamentarian Maithripala Sirisena in 2019, were taken up before the SC yesterday. The petitions, in which the then AG, the Minister of Justice and Prison Affairs, the President's Secretary, the Commissioner General of Prisons, the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka and the Superintendent of Prisons of the Welikada Prison had been named as respondents, were taken up before a SC five Judge bench comprised of Justices, Vijith Kumara Malalgoda PC, Murdu Fernando PC, S. Thurairaja PC, Priyantha Fernando, and Gamini Amarasekara.

Additional Solicitor General Nerin Pulle PC, appearing for the AG, informed the SC that President's Secretary Saman Ekanayake has informed through a letter that President Wickremesinghe would not sign any warrants for executions on the offenders who have been sentenced to death after conviction by the relevant courts.

However, Saliya Pieris PC, and Sanjeewa Jayawardena PC, representing the petitioners, argued that future Presidents may not be of the same view as the incumbent President regarding the death penalty. Even though the AG's undertaking has addressed their immediate concerns, the petitioners informed that they were not able to withdraw the relevant FR petitions. Considering the submissions made by the petitioners, the SC decided to terminate the proceedings of the FR petitions, reserving the right of the petitioners to revise them in the event of an imminent threat of any execution being carried out in the future.

Following the announcement made by Sirisena, who was the President at that time, on 26 June, 2019, that he had placed his signature on the order to impose the death penalty for four prisoners convicted of drug peddling, 10 FR petitions were filed by several parties seeking an order directing the then Commissioner General of Prisons and the Welikada Prison Superintendent from executing any prisoner consequent to a death warrant signed by the President. 

The petitioners had pointed out that Sri Lanka has had a moratorium on the death penalty at least since 1976, and that there has been no capital punishment carried out since then. They had stated that after the last execution on 23 June 1976, those who held office prior to Sirisena, including former Presidents late J.R. Jayewardene, slain Ranasinghe Premadasa, late D.B. Wijetunga, Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, and Mahinda Rajapaksa had refrained from placing their signatures on the death warrants, without which those who were sentenced to death cannot be executed in prisons.