COLOMBO – Former parliamentarian and murder convict Duminda Silva, whose presidential pardon was suspended by the Supreme Court on Tuesday (May 31), was arrested by the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) on Wednesday (June 1). He was receiving treatment at the Sri Jayewardenepura hospital for an unspecified ailment at the time of the arrest.
A three-judge bench, suspending the presidential pardon granted to Silva in what has been considered a landmark decision, ordered his immediate return to jail and asked the police to arrest him.
The court had also issued a travel ban on Silva and issued an interim order to impound his passport and hand it over to the court.
Silva, who was facing the death penalty for a 2011 murder, was freed in June 2021 after President Gotabaya Rajapaksa granted him an amnesty.
“The court fixed a further hearing for September 1, but wanted the police to carry out the interim order of arresting Duminda Silva and return him to jail,” a court official said.
The Court decision was given following an unprecedented challenge to the presidential pardon by former MP Hirunika Premachandra, the daughter of former legislator Bharatha Lakshman – who was shot dead by Silva and his associates – who filed the petition saying his release was illegal.
“This decision of the Supreme Court is historic,” Premachandra said after the Court decision.
Silva’s arrest comes amidst widespread speculation he had left the country after he was spotted at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) earlier this month. However, local media later reported that Silva had got himself admitted at the Sri Jayewardenepura hospital on Wednesday, with hospital sources confirming he was receiving treatment for an unspecified ailment.
-ENCL