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Court rejects ‘limits’ on media reporting of Thilini Priyamali case

04 Nov 2022

  • Colombo Fort Chief Magistrate says he has no right to impose limits despite request from attorney
BY Buddhika Samaraweera In response to a statement made by Attorney-at-Law Dasun Nagashena, appearing for suspected fraudster Thilini Priyamali – currently in remand custody on charges of large-scale financial fraud – that the media reporting on court proceedings should be limited to reports and statements made by the investigators and lawyers, Colombo Fort Chief Magistrate Thilina Gamage stated on Wednesday (2) that he does not have the right to impose limits on media reports being made. When the case against Priyamali was taken up on Wednesday, Nagashena told the court that his client (Priyamali) faced severe prejudice due to media reports about the ongoing court proceedings. He said that while the case is pending, President’s Counsel (PC) Maithri Gunaratne, who is representing the aggrieved party, had given an interview to the media about it, and that they hope to take judicial action regarding the matter.  “Gunaratne PC made an incorrect statement about our appearance last week. That statement has caused prejudice against me and the bar. I would like to say that in the media reporting on court proceedings, the reports should be limited to reporting on the progress made by the investigators, and the explanations made by the lawyers to the court,” he said before court. However, when the Chief Magistrate queried as to whether the verbal statements made by Nagashena against the relevant media reports should be placed on written record of the court, Nagashena said that there was no such need. Later, Chief Magistrate Gamage responded, saying: “If Gunaratne PC has gone against professional ethics, this is not the court to question it. Also, I do not have the authority to limit the reporting done by the media. Journalists have a professional right to report within their ethical and moral limits.” In response to the statement made by Nagashena, Gunaratne PC said: “I have not done anything against the ethics of a lawyer in any way. I only gave an interview about the previous court proceedings. Also, on that day, I jokingly said that ‘Mr. Wijeyadasa's [a reference to Minister of Justice, Prison Affairs, and Constitutional Reforms Dr. Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe PC] chamber has come; love to see it’. This was published in the media. It is nothing that big. Things that I didn’t say had also been published. If Dr. Rajapakshe PC was embarrassed because of what was discussed, I am sorry for that. As lawyers, we make little jokes during proceedings. Otherwise, we may end up depressed and even have a heart attack.” When the case against Priyamali was taken up on 19 October, Nagashena – who is also a Co-ordinating Secretary to the Ministry of Justice, Prison Affairs, and Constitutional Reforms, of which the Minister is Dr. Rajapakshe PC – and a few other lawyers appeared for the suspect. On that day, Gunaratne PC told the court that “Lawyers from the Justice Minister’s chamber are appearing for the suspect”.  However, citing a news item which was published in The Morning regarding the said incident, titled “Wijeyadasa’s chamber appearing for Thilini questioned in court”, Dr. Rajapakshe said in Parliament that his Parliamentary privileges had been violated through the said news item. He had also requested Speaker of Parliament Mahinda Yapa Abeywardana to refer the matter to the Privileges Committee and summon The Morning before the said committee. Meanwhile, coming out of court on Wednesday, Gunaratne PC said: “I said then that Dr. Rajapakshe's team had come here. As lawyers, we have a chamber. We expressed our happiness that the team came. Journalists reported about it in various ways. There was no major problem with it. Dr. Rajapakshe PC took this too far by raising a question of Parliamentary privilege. Because of this, this message spread further than we thought.”


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