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The Decision to Grant Staff Sergeant Sunil Rathnayaka a Pardon is Not in My Name

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The Decision to Grant Staff Sergeant Sunil Rathnayaka a Pardon is Not in My Name


Image courtesy Newswire.lk
 

Last week, Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa pardoned Staff Sergeant Sunil Rathnayaka, who was convicted for the murder of 8 Tamil internally displaced civilians in December 2000 in Mirusuvil, Jaffna. The victims included 3 children, aged 15, 13, and the youngest, 5.

The Military Police led the initial inquiry. The only person who escaped the massacre and lived to tell this gruesome tale led the military police to the site where the others were killed. Based on the evidence of the survivor and testimonies - including that of Staff Sgt. Rathnayake himself, the military police was able to locate the burial site from where the bodies of the 8 victims were unearthed. 

While the evidence presented in court concluded that one person could not have committed the massacre on their own, the evidence against the other four accused was not sufficient. However, the evidence that Staff Sgt. Rathnayake did, in fact, commit the murders was overwhelming. 

In 2015, the High Court sentenced Staff Sgt. Rathnayaka to death. When an appeal was made against this conviction to the Supreme Court, a bench of five judges, including the Chief Justice deliberated on the matter and upheld the conviction in April 2019. 

However, even before one year could lapse since then, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa pardoned Staff Sgt. Rathnayake. 

We do not advocate for the death penalty. We respect the good soldiers of the armed forces who have made sacrifices to keep us safe. However, we think it’s important that Staff Sgt. Rathnayaka faces justice that commensurates the crimes he committed. If not, we send a worrying message to the citizens of this country, that there will be impunity for the most heinous of crimes, especially if the perpetrator is from the military and the victim is a Tamil civilian. We note with deep regret that in this case, the justice that was hard-won by the surviving family members has been tragically reversed.

We don’t take this release lightly, because it’s an affront to the integrity of the Sri Lankan justice system to have a Presidential pardon used so arbitrarily. 

The President’s decision to grant Staff Sgt. Sunil Rathnayaka a pardon is not in my name.

We urge President Rajapaksa to respect the decision of Sri Lanka’s highest court by reversing his decision to grant Staff Sgt. Sunil Rathnayaka a pardon and continue to focus his energies on keeping us safe from COVID-19.

Access the petition, started by Hashtag Generation, in Tamil & Sinhala here. And please sign up & share widely, as I have.

Sanjana Hattotuwa
Founding Editor 

 

 

All content published Creative Commons License | 2020
 
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