Krishanthi Kumaraswami convicts FR dismissed by SC

News

The Supreme Court today unanimously dismissed a Fundamental Rights petition filed by five convicts in the 1996 Krishanthi Kumaraswamy abduction, rape, and murder case.

The bench, comprising Justices Kumuduni Wickremasinghe, Achala Wengappuli, and Menaka Wijesundera, refused leave to proceed.

The petitioners, including Somaratna Rajapaksha, argued they had spent decades on death row and requested either a presidential pardon or the commutation of their death sentences to life imprisonment.

Senior Deputy Solicitor General Lakmali Karunanayake, appearing for the Commissioner General of Prisons, Justice Minister Harshana Nanayakkara, and the Attorney General, submitted that a presidential pardon is a discretionary power and not a legal entitlement.

The five were convicted by a Trial-at-Bar in 1998 for the abduction, rape, and murder of schoolgirl Krishanthi Kumaraswamy, and the killing of her mother, brother, and a family friend.

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