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Court to decide on Salley seeking compensation from government MP trio 

22 Feb 2022

BY Buddhika Samaraweera  Colombo High Court (HC) Judge Amal Ranaraja yesterday (21) informed that the order with regard to the application filed by former Western Provincial Governor Azath Salley seeking compensation from three government parliamentarians who had filed a complaint against Salley for allegedly making statements that violated inter-ethnic harmony during a media briefing, would be given on 23 March 2022. Salley had filed the said application, seeking compensation from Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP_ Parliamentarians Mohomad Muzammil, Gamini Waleboda, and Nimal Piyathissa, who had filed a complaint against him for allegedly making statements that violated inter-ethnic harmony. President’s Counsel (PC) Maithri Gunaratne appeared for Salley. Claiming that the police investigation into the case had been concluded on 17 August 2021 and that a charge sheet had been filed against Salley on 23 June 2021, Gunarathe said that the indictment had been filed before the conclusion of the investigation. He also claimed that it showed who had acted with a political motive. He also queried as to who wanted the Attorney General (AG) to file such cases without looking into the investigations. Taking into account the damage caused to Salley due to being in detention, Gunaratne requested the court to issue an order to the three MPs to pay compensation for the loss of income and expenses incurred by his client during the period of nearly a year in which Salley was in detention. Senior State Counsel Wasantha Perera appeared for the AG, stating that there was no legal basis for the request. Therefore, he requested the court that Salley’s application be dismissed. Meanwhile, Shavendra Fernando PC appeared in the court on behalf of Muzammil, Waleboda and Piyathissa. He told the court that it was not only the three MPs, but that a large number of people too had lodged complaints regarding the said incident. If so, should compensation be recovered from all of them, queried Fernando. Noting that the AG had taken steps to file a case on the basis of an apparent finding revealed during the police investigations into a complaint, Fernando questioned whether the plaintiffs have to be compensated every time a defendant is acquitted of any case. If the court grants permission for such requests, he claimed that the general public would be afraid to file criminal complaints in the future. Salley was arrested on 16 March 2021, under the Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act No. 48 of 1979, for his remarks at a press briefing on 9 March 2021, as the said remarks could allegedly “incite strife among religious groups”. He was then acquitted of all charges filed against him in the Colombo High Court on 2 December 2021, after nearly nine months in detention. Meanwhile, he filed a complaint at the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka, claiming that former AG Dappula De Livera PC had “failed to exercise due diligence” prior to his arrest in March 2021. “The Colombo Magistrate on 14 September 2021 held that the full version of the press briefing does not in any manner or form implicate me in any crime. In the Colombo High Court, the judge, on 2 December 2021, acquitted me of all charges contained in the indictment, without even calling for my defence. Moreover, the judge also clearly specified that the views expressed at the press briefing did not cause any ill feeling or offence to any community. My complaint is that the AG’s Department, instructed by the then AG De Livera PC, failed to exercise due diligence, before arresting and indicting me on fabricated evidence, and thereby failed in their public duty,” the letter by Salley to the HRCSL read.


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