An appeal from MP Chaminda, who was sentenced to prison

An appeal petition and a bail application have been filed on behalf of Mr. Chaminda Wijesiri, the Samagi Jana Balawegaya Badulla District Member of Parliament, who was found guilty of assaulting and injuring two police officers and making death threats, and sentenced to one and a half years in prison. The MP's lawyers filed this petition before the Badulla High Court.

Badulla High Court Judge Jeyaram Trotsky took steps to impose a lenient one-month suspended prison sentence for 10 years on Mr. Rasika Karunathilake, a police officer who served in the Minister's security division and was named as the third accused in this case, in connection with three charges. Additionally, it was ordered that a compensation of one hundred thousand rupees be paid to the two officers injured in the assault. Accordingly, he was released after depositing the said compensation amount in court on the 28th of last month.

When imposing the sentence on the third accused, the judge made a special note, stating that he had taken into consideration the long-term service rendered by him. The lawyer appearing for the accused had pointed out to the court that he was due to retire next year after 33 years of service without any disciplinary charges, and had received 711 commendation letters while serving in war-affected areas such as Jaffna, Vavuniya, and Kilinochchi. Based on these facts, the court decided to impose a sentence that would not harm his pension entitlements.

This incident occurred on the afternoon of February 10, 2019, near the roundabout in Bandarawela town. A verbal altercation between the two parties, which began when a police jeep overtook the vehicle carrying Member of Parliament Chaminda Wijesiri and his group, who were traveling in jeeps, led to this incident. Subsequently, the prosecution confirmed during the trial that the police vehicle was blocked, and the officers inside were assaulted and injured while being subjected to death threats.

It was also revealed that the driver, Bandula Ratnayake, who was the first accused in this case, had passed away by the time the case was heard. At the High Court, Senior State Counsel Shakthi Jagodaarachchi appeared for the prosecution, while President's Counsel Anuja Premaratne appeared for the second accused, and Attorney Sujeewana Silva appeared for the third accused.