Sri Lanka's Supreme Court deemed the former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's decision to grant a presidential pardon to former Parliamentarian Duminda Silva as arbitrary and not legally valid.
The three-judge bench, comprised of Justices Preethi Padman Surasena, Gamini Amarasekara, and Arjuna Obeysekera, ordered the annulment of the Presidential Pardon, citing non-compliance with constitutional provisions.
The backdrop to this decision stems from the sentencing on September 8, 2016, where Duminda Silva and four others, including former Defence Ministry Monitoring MP, were condemned to death by the Colombo High Court for the murder of four individuals, including former Parliamentarian Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra, on or around October 8, 2011.
Today's ruling marks the final judgment in relation to three fundamental rights petitions challenging the legality of the Presidential Pardon granted to Duminda Silva in 2021.
