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Ven. Gnanasara’s release smacks of racism: ULF
View(s):The United Left Front (ULF) has condemned the Presidential pardon granted to Bodu Bala Sena General Secretary Ven. Galagoda-Aththe Gnanasara Thera, as an endorsement of racism and an act amounting to contempt of court.
Issuing a statement, ULF General Secretary Lal Wijenayaka said the Ven. Gnanasara Thera had been sentenced to 19 years in prison to be served in six years for threatening the Homagama Magistrate and insulting the State’s Counsel inside the Homagama Magistrate’s Court. The BBS General Secretary had appealed against the Court of Appeal judgment and lost, the statement further pointed out.
“The person being released on a presidential pardon is someone who is serving a prison sentence for being in contempt of court. The President, by taking this action to further his own narrow political ends, is now also in contempt of court,” the ULF asserted.
It noted that the thera’s release came hard on the heels of recent communal tensions that exploded into violence. “This decision, taken to appease racist Sinhala Buddhists, not only undermines the rule of law in the eyes of the public, but is also an endorsement of racism. We condemn it in the strongest possible terms,” the statement added.