Lasantha murder case and laws delays - EDITORIAL

The current controversy over the letter sent by Attorney General (AG) Parinda Ranasinghe to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Director to release three suspects from a case related to the murder of former Sunday Leader Editor Lasantha Wickrematunge raises many questions. 

Subsequent to an uproar over the AG’s decision, his department issued a statement stating that the letter dated 27 January, sent by the AG to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Director regarding case no. B92/2009 before the Mt. Lavinia Magistrate’s Court, are not the same suspects arrested in connection with Wickrematunge’s murder. 

However, the journalists’ organisations and Wickrematunge’s family seem to believe that the suspects who are to be released on the basis of the AG’s decision are related to his murder since one suspect had been arrested for allegedly abducting Wickrematunga’s driver and the other in connection with a missing note book of the slain editor. Hence, they continue to agitate against the decision. They seem to fear that the Wickrematunge case would also be added to Sri Lanka’s long list of crimes without criminals. Wickrematunga’s daughter, Ahimsa has gone to the extent of requesting Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya to take action to impeach the AG. 

Meanwhile, the position taken by many Opposition politicians, including those who were members of the so-called Yahapalana Government and their supporters is startling as they seem to be overjoyed with the AG’s decision. They may be happy that the government of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake is under pressure with this decision and it points to the degenerated political culture of this country. This is also a case in point for the long delay in the judicial process which is generally called law delays.

We have editorially discussed many a time the “law delays” in the country for the past decade without witnessing any viable action to address them by successive governments. Explaining the reasons for the delay in the disposal of cases in courts, senior Constitutional Law Practitioner and President’s Counsel J.C. Weliamuna said during an interview with the Daily FT on July 20, 2017 that the law’s delays were a national crisis. He gave a list of reasons for the law’s delays

One would hardly contest his assessment of the situation given the enormity of the backlog of unresolved cases in Sri Lankan courts and the insufficiency of human as well as physical resources the judicial system possesses in resolving those cases. Former Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe told Parliament on December 2, 2023, that 1,104,458 cases were being heard in courts throughout the country as of June 30 that year whereas all these cases were being heard by 429 judges.

The repercussions of the law-related delays are severe. People subject to injustices such as losing their kith and kin, properties, prestige have to wait for justice for years or decades during which time he/she might die a natural death or be deprived of justice due to the death of the other party to the case. With a person being remanded, especially for a long time his/her family is also forced to go through a horrible period. The education of their children might be put at risk. The family might lose the breadwinner. Relationships in the family might be endangered, members of the family might be dispersed and marriages might be broken. The state also would incur millions in this process to maintain detainees.

An LTTE inmate from Akkaraipattu who was incarcerated for over 12 years, was acquitted from the case on October 11, 2021. A mother of three who was remanded for 15 years in connection with the Town Hall bomb blast in 1999 was finally given a not guilty verdict in 2015. Another prisoner who was also held for 12 years under the PTA was finally released after being acquitted of all charges on February 16, 2022. An innocent person being incarcerated for such a long time in this manner is irreparable harm to the life of the person concerned. 

The NPP government has vowed to minimise corruption and crime in the country in which process eliminating laws delays would be essential. Do the NPP leaders have any assurance that another future government would not scuttle the corruption cases which they initiate if they are dragged on until such a government comes to power? What the fate of the NPP leaders would be in such a future scenario is anybody’s guess.