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Jude Jayamaha case: Wheels of justice begin to turn with AG’s Dept. studying SC ruling
View(s):By Ranjith Padmasiri and Mimi Alphonsus
The Attorney General’s Department has commenced studying the Supreme Court ruling quashing the presidential pardon granted to Jude Shramantha Jayamaha in order to advise the police on how to go about enforcing the punishment imposed on the accused.
Attorney General Sanjay Rajaratnam, PC has tasked a team led by Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Nerin Pulle, PC with studying the SC’s 306-page ruling and compiling a report. ASG Pulle appeared for the AG during the Supreme Court case.
The SC bench comprised Justices S. Thurairaja, Yasantha Kodagoda and Janak De Silva.
Yvonne Jonsson
As the accused Jayamaha is currently overseas, legal steps are to be taken to have him brought back to Sri Lanka. Since each of the three Justices on the bench have given their views separately when delivering the ruling, the Department will make an extensive study of the ruling, a senior AG’s Department official said. The source added that the Department is likely to first consider the fines and compensation ordered to be paid by the accused and instruct police on further actions to take.
The SC has required the AG’s Department to file a motion in Court every two months setting out steps taken with regard to the implementation of the Court’s direction. Considering the SC’s ruling, the AG’s Department official said it will act in accordance with local and international regulations and charters.
The source added that since the accused is currently abroad, the police will be instructed to submit a report to Court so that officers can seek the assistance of Interpol to locate his current whereabouts. The official further said that by submitting the facts to Court, the police can obtain the necessary warrants and Red Notices to arrest the accused and have him extradited to Sri Lanka with the assistance of Interpol.
In a landmark judgement, the SC this week ruled that former President Maithripala Sirisena’s pardoning of Jude Shramantha Jayamaha convicted for the murder of Yvonne Jonsson was a violation of fundamental rights and was therefore null and void. The Court ordered the AG and relevant authorities to take action in order to locate Jayamaha, who has been residing abroad since the pardon, bring him back to Sri Lanka and place him in prison to serve his life sentence.
Police Spokesman Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Nihal Thalduwa said that the procedure for carrying out the court’s orders first requires the AG to instruct the police, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Defence and any other relevant bodies on what actions should be taken. “As far as I know we have not yet received instruction from the Attorney General,” he said, “but once we do the police will take action. We may have to use extradition laws or mutual legal assistance [a process for cooperation between countries in carrying out criminal proceedings].”
In their judgement, Justices S. Thurairaja, Yasantha Kodagoda and Janak De Silva gave their reasonings for the unanimous decision that the pardoning of Jayamaha violated the Constitution and is null and void. The judgement points to procedural non-compliance and arbitrariness in the way the pardon was executed. Justice Thurairaja in his judgement concluded that the former President did not follow due process in granting a pardon by failing to obtain a report from the trial judge, receiving advice from the Attorney General that was not based on said report, failing to seek advice from the Minister of Justice, and failing to inform the victims and give them an opportunity to voice their grievances. The other Justices were mostly in agreement on the procedural failures and agreed they were grounds for impugning the pardon.
The justices were also in agreement that the subject of pardoning is not beyond the purview of judicial review, as the former President’s counsel argued, and therefore the courts had the right to assess the reasons stipulated for pardoning.
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