President of the Court of Appeal (CA), Justice Rohantha Abeysuriya, has appointed a three-Judge bench to hear the appeal filed by former Parliamentarian Hirunika Premachandra challenging her conviction and prison sentence.

The appeal was referred to the CA President for further action following a division among the Judges when considering the verdict. Accordingly, the matter was taken up before Justice Abeysuriya yesterday (11).

During the proceedings, he appointed a three-member bench comprising Justices P Kumararatnam, R Pradeep Hettiarachchi and himself to hear the appeal.

The Court directed that the appeal be taken up before the newly appointed bench on 21 January 2027.

Premachandra was convicted by the Colombo High Court (HC) over charges including the abduction of a young man employed at a shop in the Dematagoda area on 21 December 2015, using a Defender vehicle, unlawful detention and assault.

The HC sentenced her to three years of rigorous imprisonment and imposed a fine following her conviction.

Premachandra subsequently appealed against the conviction and sentence, seeking to have both set aside and to be acquitted and released from the charges.