Sri Lankan SC Reverses Former President Sirisena's Decision to Grant Pardon to Murder Convict

Sri Lankan Supreme Court has reversed former president Maithripala Sirisena's decision to grant a presidential pardon to a murder convict and ordered him to pay compensation to the victims in the case.

Colombo: Sri Lankan Supreme Court on Thursday reversed former president Maithripala Sirisena's decision to grant a presidential pardon to a murder convict and ordered him to pay compensation to the victims in the case.

The three-member bench said his 2019 decision to grant a pardon to convict Shramantha Jayamaha was unconstitutional.
Jayamaha in 2005 beat to death Yvonne Jonsson, a 19-year-old Swedish woman holidaying in Sri Lanka, at a high-rise apartment here.

The court was told that her skull was fractured into 64 pieces. Jayamaha was earlier imprisoned for 12 years but he later appealed to the higher court which rejected his plea and sentenced him to death. This was again reaffirmed by the Supreme Court in 2014.

Sirisena had in 2019 granted him pardon a few days before resigning from the post of president ahead of the presidential election. The court ordered Sirisena to pay SLRs 1 million each to the petitioner who filed the case and the parents of the victim.

The court also ordered the convict to return to prison to serve his sentence. He is thought to be currently overseas. Sirisena, since April, has been facing a stream of cases over his leadership of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP). He is barred from functioning as the party leader.

In 2022, he was ordered by the court to pay SLRs 100 million to the victims of the 2019 Easter Sunday suicide attacks. He was found guilty of criminal negligence for inaction to prevent attacks despite pre-intelligence warnings. So far, he has only paid a part of the court-ordered compensation.

His successor, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, granted a presidential pardon to another murder convict who was a political associate, which was also quashed by the highest court. Rajapaksa is also asked to appear in court over another pardon granted by him.

Under Article 34 of the Constitution, Sri Lanka's presidents are empowered to grant pardons subject to a procedural process.