The Supreme Court (SC) has approved the five-year rigorous imprisonment (RI) sentence handed down by the Ratnapura High Court (HC) to six accused who had been charged with complicity in the violence that erupted following the murder of Parliamentarian Nalanda Ellawala in 1997.

The verdict was given by the SC judge bench consisting of President’s Counsel (PC) and Justice Murdu Fernando, S. Thurairaja PC, and Achala Wengappuli yesterday (27).

The Attorney General had filed the case against the relevant accused, including former Ratnapura Pradeshiya Sabha Chairman Sugath Dissanayake, for torching a trade shop during the violent activities that took place following the murder of Ellawala.

Later, in 2007, the Ratnapura HC sentenced the six accused who were convicted of the charges to five years of RI.

They had later filed an appeal before the Court of Appeal (CoA) seeking an order invalidating the HC verdict and to acquit them from the relevant charges.

The defendants had then filed an appeal before the SC after their first appeal was dismissed by the CoA.

The SC, which dismissed the second appeal put forward by the defendants, has ordered the prison sentence to be implemented from yesterday.