Supreme Court deems Presidential pardon for Duminda unlawful 

By AJA Abeynayake

The Supreme Court yesterday ruled that the presidential pardon granted by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to former MP Duminda Silva was unlawful.

The bench comprising Justices P. Padman Surasena, Gamini Amarasekera and Arjuna Obeysekera unanimously decided that the pardon process was flawed and therefore unlawful.

The court decided that the former President’s actions of giving pardon had breached the fundamental rights of petitioners including Sumana Premachandra and Hirunika Premachandra.

The court also directed the Commissioner of Prisons to implement the sentence against Duminda Silva.

The decision was announced when the judgment in the Fundamental Rights cases filed against Duminda Silva’s Presidential Pardon was delivered yesterday.

Silva and four others were convicted in 2016 by the Colombo High Court for the 2011 murder of politician Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra.

All five received the death penalty, a verdict later upheld by a five-judge bench of the Supreme Court.

However, following his election victory in 2019, Gotabaya Rajapaksa granted a pardon to Silva.

Duminda Silva’s release was recommended by the Presidential Commission tasked with looking into incidences of political mistreatment.

However, President Rajapaksa failed to adhere to the proper legal procedures in granting the special Presidential Pardon, according to the court ruling.

Three separate fundamental rights petitions challenging the legality of the pardon were subsequently filed with the Supreme Court.

The fundamental rights applications were filed by Hirunika Premachandra, her mother Sumana Premachandra, and Former Human Rights Commissioner Ghazali Hussain, PC.