President’s Counsel Romesh de Silva, appearing for Rajapaksa, made the submission when an appeal petition related to the case was taken up for hearing before a three-judge bench comprising Justices Yasantha Kodagoda, Kumudini Wickremasinghe, and Shiran Goonaratne.
However, de Silva requested that his client be allowed to appear before a Magistrate’s Court in Colombo instead of Jaffna, citing security concerns.
Counsel Nuwan Bopage, representing the petitioners, stated that they had no objection to the request.
Taking both submissions into consideration, the Supreme Court directed that an application be submitted before the Jaffna Magistrate’s Court within four weeks to facilitate the process.
