- Church mulls criminal case against ex-President
- ‘Aragalaya’ group complains to IGP to arrest him
Following the Supreme Court (SC) judgement which ruled that former President and incumbent Opposition MP Maithripala Sirisena had violated fundamental human rights by not preventing the Easter Sunday terror attacks of 2019, the “Sarwapaakshika Aragalakaruwo” organisation, which was active in the “aragalaya” (the people’s struggle), has requested the IGP Chandana D. Wickramaratne in writing to arrest Sirisena, while the Catholic Church is considering filing a criminal case against him.
Speaking to the media yesterday (17), Sarwapaakshika Aragalakaruwo General Secretary Samith Bodhipaksha said: “When studying the SC judgement, we can see that Sirisena has deliberately neglected his responsibilities and the oath to protect the people as the President. He also issued a letter stating that he did not know that it was mandatory for him to attend the National Security Council meetings. Having said so, Sirisena is still working as an MP. He is holding office as an MP unethically after having waited until 269 lives were lost, doing nothing. Therefore, today, we came to file a complaint with IGP Wickramaratne. We have requested the IGP to arrest Sirisena and the others who waited until the 269 lives were lost and failed to perform their duties. Today, Inter-University Students’ Federation Convenor Wasantha Mudalige is being detained illegally. However, Sirisena is still free and engaged in politics. We have, therefore, requested the IGP to arrest him and all other respondents as soon as possible,” he added.
Meanwhile, speaking to The Morning, Catholic Bishops’ Conference National Director of Communications Father Jude Chrishantha Fernando said: “We have already filed a number of cases related to this incident. They are currently pending. With the recent judgement of the SC, it was confirmed that Sirisena and the others have violated fundamental human rights. Therefore, the church is currently considering filing criminal cases against them. We are currently discussing it with the relevant lawyers.”
Meanwhile, he also alleged that Sirisena is providing wrong interpretations to the media about the SC judgement given recently. “I saw Sirisena telling the media that he was ordered to pay a compensation of Rs. 100 million to the victims because of the mistakes made by officials such as Fernando, Jayasundara, and Jayawardena who were under him. By making such statements, he is trying to tell the people that he has not committed any wrongdoing. However, the order was not given that way. The judges, including the Chief Justice, clearly pointed out the charges against Sirisena when the verdict was announced. The SC pointed out that despite knowing well about National Thowheeth Jama’ath Leader Zahran Hashim, Sirisena did not take any steps as the Defence Minister to stop his activities. The SC also stated that Sirisena should have appointed an Acting Defence Minister before he left for Singapore in April 2019, but that he failed to do so. The other charge pointed out by the SC is the fact that he did not convene the National Security Council as required. It was also stated that the Head of State should have taken steps to facilitate a system to obtain information if officials failed to provide him with the information in a proper manner,” he added.
On 13 January, the SC, which held that Sirisena and former Defence Ministry Secretary Hemasiri Fernando, former Inspector General of Police (IGP) Pujith Jayasundara, former State Intelligence Service (SIS) Director, Senior Deputy Inspector General of Police (SDIG) Nilantha Jayawardena, and former Chief of National Intelligence, retired DIG Sisira Mendis have violated fundamental human rights by not preventing the said terror attacks, ordered them to personally pay Rs. 310 million as compensation to the victims of the bombings, with Sirisena being ordered to pay Rs. 100 million, the highest amount in compensation.