June 03 (Citizen.lk News) -A Supreme Court three-judge-bench today unanimously refused leave to appeal and dismissed a Fundamental Rights application filed by five convicts in the high-profile Krishanthi Kumaraswamy abduction, rape and murder case, whose conviction dates back to 1998.
The petitioners, including the first accused Somaratna Rajapaksha, sought relief on the grounds that they have been on death row for several years. They argued that if they were not to be executed, they should be considered for a Presidential pardon or have their death sentences commuted to life imprisonment.
The Fundamental Rights application was supported by President’s Counsel Manohara de Silva. In their submissions, the petitioners claimed that the prolonged incarceration on death row amounted to cruel and inhumane treatment, thereby infringing their fundamental rights.
Appearing on behalf of the Commissioner General of Prisons, the Minister of Justice Harshana Nanayakkara, and the Attorney General, Senior Deputy Solicitor General Lakmali Karunanayake raised several preliminary objections. Among the key objections raised by the Attorney General was that the granting of a Presidential pardon is solely at the discretion of the President and cannot be claimed as a legal right or entitlement by any convict. The Attorney General also argued that the application was time-barred and that the petitioners had failed to approach the court with clean hands.
The Supreme Court three-judge-bench comprising justices Kumudini Wickramasinghe, Achala Wengappuli and Menaka Wijesundera accepted these objections and decided to dismiss the petition accordingly.
The Krishanthi Kumaraswamy case, which shocked the nation in the late 1990s, involved the abduction, rape and murder of a schoolgirl and three of her family members by members of the military. The Trial-at-Bar delivered its verdict in 1998, sentencing the accused to death. Subsequently, a Supreme Court five-judge-bench had affirmed the conviction and the sentences imposed on the accused and dismissed their appeal.
