The Supreme Court today postponed the hearing of the appeal filed by former United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) parliamentarian Duminda Silva and four others against the death penalty imposed on them by the Colombo High Court.
Lawyers appearing for the convicts presented submissions today before the five-judge bench
comprising Chief Justice Priyasath Depp hearing the case.
The lawyer who appeared on behalf of once of the convicts, Chaminda Ravi Jayanath who has been sentenced to death said the entire case is a fabrication against his client. The counsel accusing that the evidence presented in the murder case is contradictory said the entire trial was unlawful.
The bench postponed further hearing on the appeal to 4th June.
Colombo High Court in 2016 found the former MP and four others guilty of the murder of Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra on October 8, 2011 and sentenced them to death.
The five convicts in their petition to the Supreme Court request the apex court to annul the lower court ruling claiming that the manner in which the death sentence was imposed on them violated the law and free them.
Duminda Silva and 12 others were accused of 17 charges including the murder of Premachandra and four others. A special three-member panel of High Court judges acquitted the other seven suspects sentencing the five including former MP Silva to death.
It has been reported that the High Court panel was divided over the verdict, with the chairman of the panel Justice Shiran Gunaratne in favor of acquitting all the defendants while other two Judges Padmini Ranawaka and M.C.B.S. Morayas decided to impose death sentences on the five convicts.
