COLOMBO – The Court of Appeal on Monday (7) issued an interim order permitting convicted murderer Premalal Jayasekara to attend parliamentary sittings.
The interim order directing the Commissioner-General of Prisons to make arrangements for Jayasekara to attend Parliament was issued by the President of the Court of Appeal, Justice A. H. M. D. Nawaz and Justice Sobhitha Rajakaruna on Monday..
Jayasekara who is on death row had filed a Writ petition before the Court of Appeal asking for relief.
Last month the Attorney-General Dappula de Livera ruled that Jayasekara is “unsuitable to either sit in Parliament or vote in the House.”
The ruling was issued after the Commissioner General of Prisons asked the Ministry of Justice to obtain an opinion from the Attorney General following a request from the Speaker of Parliament, Mahinda Yapa Abeywardene, to bring Jayasekara to Parliament to be sworn in.
The statement issued by the Attorney General’s spokeswoman Nishara Jayaratne said the Prisons had said there was no law guiding them on the matter in the Prison laws.
The Attorney General’s statement said that under the law, even though Jayasekara has appealed his sentence, only the carrying out of the death sentence is stayed and he remains a convict.
According to section 91(1) of the Constitution, any person disqualified under section 89 (d) cannot contest elections or even vote as his civil rights are lost when under a death sentence.
The Speaker in a statement to Parliament under pressure from the government benches last week, said he had communicated to the Commissioner-General of Prisons that Jayasekara should be brought to Parliament.
Jayasekara received over 130,000 preferential votes and came second in the district at the elections.
Jayasekara, a leading SLPP politician, was given the death sentence by the Ratnapura High Court just days before the elections for the murder of United National Party supporter Shantha Dodangoda during the 2015 Presidential Campaign.
Two other men were injured when Jayasekara and others opened fire.
Jayasekara, also known as ‘Choka Malli’, is a former Deputy Minister for Power and Energy and of Mahaweli Development.
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