By Ruwan Weerakoon
(Lanka-e-News -14.Sep.2026,4.30PM) Sri Lanka's Supreme Court has invalidated the 2019 presidential pardon granted to Ven. Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara Thero, General Secretary of the Bodu Bala Sena. A three-judge bench led by Justice Janak de Silva ruled the pardon "arbitrary," a violation of public trust, and beyond the President's constitutional discretion. The ruling reinstates Gnanasara's six-year prison sentence for contempt of court.
Gnanasara was convicted by the Court of Appeal in 2018 over his conduct at the Homagama Magistrate's Court in January 2016, during proceedings on the disappearance of cartoonist Prageeth Eknaligoda. He had disrupted the hearing to speak in support of military intelligence officers accused in the abduction. After serving about nine months of the sentence, then-President Maithripala Sirisena pardoned him in May 2019. The case against the pardon was brought by Sandya Eknaligoda, Prageeth's wife, along with the Centre for Policy Alternatives and others.
Two days after the verdict, Gnanasara's temple on Nawala Road, Rajagiriya, found him not present. Those at the temple and around reportedly said they did not know where he was.
Contacted by reporters, prison authorities said Gnanasara is not currently in custody. They indicated the courts will issue notice for him to appear, after which he would be handed over to prison authorities — and that if he fails to appear, the court can order his arrest.
No arrest warrant has been reported yet, and authorities have not officially declared him a fugitive — the process so far is notice-then-arrest, not an active manhunt. But with his temple unable to account for him two days on, questions about his whereabouts remain open.
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by (2026-09-14 11:06:58)
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