“Ranil temporarily saved from Easter case due to presidential immunity” – Senior lawyer J.M. Wijaybandara

., said that Ranil Wickramasinghe has temporarily withdrawn from the court on the charge of not preventing the Easter attack in the current distorted government because of the presidential immunity says the senior lawyer of the National People’s Power Lawyers’ Organization, J.M Wijebandara.
Speaking at the press conference held at the JVP head office yesterday (6th), Mr Wijebandara said, “The events that took place on the territory of Sri Lanka on April 21, 2019, resulted in the death of hundreds of people, the entire country was terrified, and everyone suffered due to the collapse of the country’s economy. As the lawyers of the National People’s Force, we have pointed out on many occasions before that there is a distorted government and a distorted regime. Channel Four has revealed that this attack was launched after planning over several years.
If the mechanisms in our country had done proper investigations and justice had been done, these kinds of propaganda would not have happened. In a situation where the rulers of our country are not governed by law, such incidents are likely to happen again. This attack directly affected the outcome of the election. Like the presidential election, the general election also had a big impact. The people had to remove the elected President in a democratic struggle.
It is said in the video that by April 2019, those in the opposition had planned the attack to gain power. At that time, the President of the government was a single person, and the cabinet was formed under Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe from members whose party was leading. A senior advisor to President Ranil Wickramasinghe held the Minister of State Security position then. One of his current senior security advisers was the Minister of Internal Security.
If the opposition had carried out such an operation to gain power while in power, the incompetence, inefficiency and laziness of those in power would be very clear. The present leader of the opposition was also in that cabinet. Information about all these people was revealed in a case that was heard before a full bench of the Supreme Court. Then Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe is also one of the first to be accused of that crime. Today, because he is the President, he has been temporarily removed from those charges. However, the then President Maithripala Sirisena, the Inspector General of Police and the Intelligence Officers, were responsible for the negligence in the judgment and were ordered to pay compensation. According to the law, judicial action can be taken against the President after the presidency is removed.
As of today, the people who are accused of launching the Easter attack and the people who are accused of not preventing it are leading a distorted regime. A president, a prime minister and a cabinet were appointed among them like a potpourri. There is serious doubt whether the Easter attack can be solved under these two groups.
The CID that is very active regarding the National Anthem or a play should take action after many facts have been revealed. They should take statements from Gotabhaya Rajapaksa as well as the Deputy State Security Minister at that time immediately. The mechanism of justice regarding the crime should be launched through that information. If the statements are not taken within this week, and justice is not done, it will be confirmed in front of the public that the two who ruled the country under a rotating system are the real accused. Although one of the ministers stated that a parliamentary selection committee would be appointed to investigate the video, the media spokesperson said that no such discussion was held in the cabinet.
The appointment of parliamentary selection committees regarding a crime in the country is not an implementation of the criminal law. A criminal justice mechanism should be implemented. Investigations should be launched under the general law of the country using the facts revealed by the Supreme Court, the facts revealed by the presidential commissions and the facts revealed by ‘Channel Four’.
If this is not done, it is confirmed that those who were politically appointed and led the state machinery and the officials who got positions from those politicians will not be governed by the law of this country. Such a situation is hazardous and anarchic. As the National People’s Power and its lawyers, we plan actions against such a situation. We will raise our voice until justice is done.”