Govt. under fire over extrajudicial killings

by Shamindra Ferdinando

Spokesman for the Frontline Socialist Party (FSP) Pubudu Jagoda yesterday said that the government owed an explanation regarding the circumstances the courtroom killing took place on 19 February and two suspects who died in police shooting two days later.

Jagoda pointed out that Ganemulle Sanjeewa had been produced in court without a specific court directive and those in authority were yet to explain as to why he was brought in regardless of intelligence warning issued the previous week regarding a possible attempt on the suspect’s life.

Justice and National Integration Minister Harshana Nanayakkara yesterday (23) said that the NPP government hadn’t considered re-implementation of judicial executions under any circumstances.

Attorney-at-Law Nanayakkara said so when The Island asked him whether the government would examine that option as part of its overall response to tackle the underworld, in the wake of the assassination of Sanjeewa Kumara Samararatne, aka Ganemulla Sanjeewa, in court room 05 of the Aluthkade court complex on 19 February.

Barely 24 hours before thecourtroom killing an unidentified gunman killed Aruna Vidanagamage aka Meegas-are Kajja, 39, and his six-year-old-daughter and nine-year-old son. The triple-murder took place in the Middeniya police area.

Minister Nanayakkara said that President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, who also holds the defence portfolio, has been quite clear that resumption of judicial executions wouldn’t be an option. What you mentioned never came up for discussions held following the courtroom killing, the minister said.

Sri Lanka suspended implementation of capital punishment in 1976 though the court continued to pass death sentences. Sri Lanka has reached an understanding with the European Union that judicial executions wouldn’t be resumed.

“We are taking tangible measures to address issues at hand. Discussions are taking place at the highest level to map out strategy,” lawmaker Nanayakkara said.

President Dissanayake assured the Ministerial Consultative Committee on Defence on February 20, the day after the courtroom killing that the underworld would be wiped out. Acknowledging that the underworld had infiltrated institutions responsible for public security, President Dissanayake said that the eradication of criminal gangs would take some time. Justice Minister Nanayakkara explained the measures taken to enhance security at courts and subject of all entering court rooms, including lawyers.

The Island also raised the recent killing of a gunman and his accomplice apprehended by the Grandpass police soon after they killed a person at Galpoththa Junction in Kotahena. The police identified the victim as 38-year-old Shashi Kumar. Justice Minister Nanayakkara said that the government would take appropriate measures in this regard. The death of persons who had been taken into custody were the first since the last presidential election held in Sept 2024.

The minister emphasized that they were concerned about the development and would take appropriate measures.

President Dissanayake during his parliamentary career repeatedly attacked successive governments over deaths in government custody.

The Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) constantly called for a halt to deaths in custody, especially during Saliya Peiris, PC, tenure as the President of the body.

In April 2023, the Supreme Court summoned the then IGP Chandana Wickremaratne to seek an explanation why police failed to comply with an order made by the SC to formulate guidelines to police officers to prevent deaths in police custody.

In a judgment dated 3 February, 2023, the Supreme directed the IGP to formulate, issue and implement, guidelines to the police, elaborating the steps that should be taken by each officer to avoid such deaths.