Julampitiya Amare’s Last Bullet — The Political Shadow Behind a Death Sentence

The Supreme Court of Sri Lanka has upheld the death sentence imposed on G.G. Amarasekara, widely known as Julampitiya Amare, bringing a dramatic end to one of the country’s most notorious political murder cases.

The ruling, delivered by Justices Janak de Silva, Sobhitha Rajakaruna, and Sampath Wijeratne, dismissed Amare’s appeal without a full hearing, confirming the Tangalle Hi
gh Court’s 2019 verdict.

Amare was convicted of opening fire at a Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) rally in Katuwana in 2012, killing two people and seriously injuring another. The attack sent shockwaves through the political south, at a time when tensions between grassroots JVP activists and pro-government figures were high.

Locals in Hambantota and Tangalle recall that Amare moved freely during the Rajapaksa years, often described as a figure of fear and influence. Many saw him as a powerful enforcer whose loyalty to the Rajapaksa network gave him protection that others could not imagine.

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His conviction in 2019 was viewed as a rare instance of accountability in a climate where political violence had often gone unpunished. Yet the Supreme Court’s final decision has reignited old debates about how deeply politics, power, and violence have intertwined in Sri Lanka’s post-war south.

A retired police officer familiar with the case said quietly, “Amare was feared, but he was also useful. No one in those days crossed him.”

Today, with the court’s final word delivered, the man once seen as untouchable now stands as a symbol of how far the tide has turned — and how fragile the line remains between power and punishment in Sri Lanka’s politics.