Sri Lanka Court Revokes Monk's Pardon, Orders Return to Prison
A three-judge bench ruled the 2019 clemency was invalid and reinstated a six-year sentence for intimidating Sandya Eknaligoda.
- On Thursday, Sri Lanka's Supreme Court overturned the presidential pardon of Buddhist monk Galagodaatte Gnanasara, ordering him to serve the remainder of his six-year prison sentence for intimidating a cartoonist's wife.
- Gnanasara was previously convicted of intimidating Sandya Eknaligoda during court proceedings while supporting military intelligence officers accused of abducting her husband, political cartoonist Prageeth Eknaligoda.
- A three-judge bench ruled the 2019 pardon by then-President Maithripala Sirisena was "arbitrary and invalid," rejecting the clemency granted to the Bodu Bala Sena leader.
- Rights groups opposed the clemency, arguing it undermined the rule of law, while critics accused the monk of fueling anti-Muslim sentiment and religious tensions in the Buddhist-majority nation.
- Despite his criminal record, then-President Gotabaya Rajapaksa appointed Gnanasara to a legal reforms committee in 2020, and the monk also served a separate nine-month term for inciting religious hostility against Islam.
22 Articles
22 Articles
The Independent
The Independent (US)Controversial monk’s presidential pardon overturned by Sri Lanka’s top court
Galagodaatte Gnanasara served less than a year in prison before being pardoned by Maithripala Sirisena
Saudi Gazette
AlKhaleej TodayTop court overturns presidential pardon for controversial Sri Lankan monk
Sri Lanka's Supreme Court overturned on Thursday a presidential pardon granted to a hardline Buddhist monk and ordered him to serve the remainder of a six-year prison sentence for intimidating the wife of a missing cartoonist.
(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Yoo Chang-yeop = ...who was sentenced to six years in prison on charges including threatening a political cartoonist's wife, but was released via presidential pardon less than a year into his sentence ...
Sri Lanka Supreme Court revokes controversial monk’s presidential pardon
Colombo-based non-governmental organisation Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) and Sandya Eknaligoda, wife of dissident political cartoonist Prageeth Eknaligoda, forcibly disappeared since 2010, had challenged the pardon
Sri Lanka's Supreme Court has overturned a presidential pardon granted to hardline Buddhist monk Kalagoda Atte Gnansar, who was sentenced to six years in prison for allegedly threatening the wife of a political cartoonist.
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