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CBK consents to pardoning her assasination attempt convicts

25 Oct 2022

Three of the eight prisoners who were granted pardons by President Ranil Wickremesinghe with effect from 21 October were those accused of attempting to assassinate former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, who has expressed her consent for their release, according to the President's Media Division (PMD).  As per Article 34 of the Constitution, Wickremesinghe had granted pardons to eight prisoners convicted by the court for their involvement in activities related to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The PMD stated that the prisoners were released as a result of several discussions between MPs representing the Tamil community and the President on multiple occasions. A preliminary investigation has been carried out on the said prisoners with the intervention of the Ministry of Defence before the pardons were granted. According to the PMD, three of the said eight prisoners are those accused of attempting to assassinate Kumaratunga in 1999, and Secretary to the President Saman Ekanayake had, on the advice of Wickremesinghe, sought the approval of Kumaratunga for their release, before proceeding with the process of granting pardons. The PMD stated that relevant arrangements were made after obtaining the consent of Kumaratunga.  Among the eight prisoners were three prisoners who had been sentenced to 30 years in prison, and had served 22 years, one prisoner who had been sentenced to 11 years and had served 14 years, one who had been sentenced to 10 years and had served 14 years, two prisoners who had been sentenced to five years and had served 14 years, and another who had been sentenced to 19 years and had served 11 years.  On 18 December 1999, a bomb attack was carried out by LTTE militants targeting Kumaratunga, who was about to leave a public meeting held at Town Hall in Colombo. She was rushed to a private hospital after the attack, but sustained permanent damage to her right eye. A total of 38 persons were killed, and 80 persons were injured in the attack. Three days after the attack, she was re-elected for her second term of Presidency, which ended in 2005.  The Colombo High Court in September 2015 sentenced two suspects who were charged in the attempted assassination, to 590 years running concurrently for 30 years each. The sentence was passed by then High Court Judge Padmini Ranawaka. A third suspect was acquitted of all the charges, as the prosecutors failed to prove her guilty.


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