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Presidential committee to review prisoner appeals for pardon
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has appointed an eight-member committee to examine convicted prisoners’ appeals for presidential pardons, Presidential Secretariat sources said.
The committee has been appointed, taking into consideration the issue of overcrowding in prisons and the danger posed to prisoners from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The eight-member committee is headed by Bar Association (BASL) President Kalinga Indatissa. Its other members are BASL Vice President Shavindra Fernando; the Colombo University’s senior law lecturer Menaka Arankaha; the Justice Ministry’s Additional Secretary (Legal) Piumanthi Peiris; Prisons Commissioner General Thushara Upuldeniya; the Presidential Secretariat’s Legal Director Hariguptha Rohanadheera; former BASL Secretary Kaushalya Nawaratne; and the Presidential Secretariat’s Public Relations Unit Director Kapila Gunasinghe.
The committee has been appointed on the grounds that the President has received a large number of appeals from convicted inmates to grant them presidential pardons.
The committee’s mandate is to examine each inmate’s appeal for a pardon and make “observations and recommendations” to the President for further action. It will categorise the appeals based on a range of factors including the nature of the crime committed, the time spent in prison and the behaviour of the inmate while in prison.
The committee is expected to submit its observations and recommendations on the first set of appeals within the next several weeks.