-By a Staff Writer
(Lanka-e-News -13.Feb.2026, 11.00 PM) Protests are being expressed from all over the country against the death penalty being handed down day before yesterday (11) to 12 suspects accused of killing former Pohottuwa MP Amarakeerthi Athukorala and his police personal security officer in Nittambuwa town during the last ‘’aragalaya’’.
The main reason for this is that the people present there were enraged because Amarakeerthi's security officer shot and killed one person and injured two others. The other reason is that the violence broke out across the country after the Rajapaksas, armed with clubs and drinking alcohol, attacked the 'aragalaya'.
There is a justifiable anger among the people regarding the death penalty being given to them without justice being served, and claiming that people were identified from CCTV footage without a single eyewitness. Those who were at home at the time of the incident have also been given the death penalty.
Various parties involved in the ‘’aragalaya’’ had called a media conference today in this regard. Attorney at Law Nuwan Bopage, who was at the forefront of the struggle, gave a lengthy explanation there.
Lawyer Nuwan Bopage - "The situation that arose when the Mahinda Rajapaksa, Chamal Rajapaksa, Namal Rajapaksa, Johnston, and others attacked the ‘aragalaya’ for love that started at Golf Face was the result of some violent acts that we saw all over the country. That happened because of the attack on that aragalaya. It is impossible to see an incident that happened anywhere in the country without it. Among them, the Nittambuwa incident is special. We know that all the strugglers who were present at that time at Golf Face were to be killed by the government's thugs. Everyone who was there was attacked. We know that Anuranga was attacked to the point where he needed 20 stitches on his head. If not for the people who were in the offices and the port at that time, most of us here would have died by now. There was a situation where about a hundred three-member High Courts had to be established. Even in that situation, no struggler could No one was killed anywhere. No one was murdered.''
''The Nittambuwa incident is special. In Nittambuwa, this MP's police officer shoots at the crowd there. A young man dies in that shooting. Two others are injured. This incident is happening in the tense atmosphere that has arisen with the shock that has occurred. If anyone is preparing to attack the struggle, to say that the struggle is barbaric, we say that you in the Pohottuwa are the barbarians. Now, they are trying to build an argument through this that there is no protection for these people, one made by a group of people in the struggle, and that people are now suffering, the strugglers are now suffering. No, we are saying that all of us who have joined this struggle are standing unconditionally for all these strugglers. Not only are we standing unconditionally, but we are working to ensure that justice is served to them."
"This government is a government that came as a result of struggle. How have they recognized justice? If this government says that the law will do everything the way the Attorney General wants, we will not go beyond the law. We say that what was in the 2022 struggle was not law, but justice.''
''At the same time, if you only take the law, you cannot oust an executive president through a struggle. Then you cannot occupy the Golf Face. There was not only the law there. It was a justice fight. The struggle is a justice fight. Therefore, if the government is trying to escape from this by saying that we will not touch the law, the Attorney General, or the judiciary, we say that this is wrong. In fact, the government should intervene in the matter of justice. How can it intervene? So far, the case filed against the Golf Face struggle has been going on for days in the Fort Magistrate's Court. The Attorney General has not appeared in that case yet. Sanath Nishantha, Johnston, Namal Rajapaksa, and Samanlal were among the attackers. These people are not going to be made respondents, and they will not go to the point of hearing the case so quickly, setting up a three-member bench, and finishing it.''
''In the beginning, Ms. Ayesha Jinasena from the Attorney General's Department appeared. Now no one is appearing, and that case will not go. Then where is the justice? A new concept was brought in the Nittambuwa case. That is facial recognition. We ask, do we need facial recognition to identify those who attacked the Golf Face protest? There are complete photos and videos. Where is the justice for them...?"
Fr. Jeewantha Peiris - "We ask who created this murder, this real violence? It was created by the Rajapaksa-Ranil junta. They are still out there today. We would like to request that instead of suppressing and hunting down the people involved in this struggle, the law should be enforced against the former IGPs, the Rajapaksas, Ranil, and other murderers who started it."
Wasantha Mudalige - "Eight people died in this struggle, eight people were shot and killed by tear gas canisters. What will happen to their verdicts now? There is no discussion on that. There is no intervention from the Attorney General. Now, after taking me personally, I was arrested under the Prevention of Terrorism Act along with several others, including Siridhamma Thero. I was wrongly detained. The Colombo Chief Magistrate's Court has decided that this was a case of false testimony and false imprisonment. We went and filed a Fundamental Rights Petition in the Supreme Court. It has been 4 years since we filed it. We were summoned twice. Now the Attorney General does not want to summon it."
Day before Yesterday (11), High Court Judge Rashantha Godawela, who announced the majority verdict, explained the facts regarding the verdict by telling a strange story. "Guilt was determined based on some contribution to the crime," he said
"This verdict was written by both Judge Rashmi Singappuli, with the agreement of both of us, repeatedly focusing on documents, evidence, and video clips. Our primary focus was on the time when the illegal assembly in question began. The prosecution's position on that was that the illegal assembly began from the time the MP got out of the jeep. However, our position is that an illegal assembly had already begun at that location, given the circumstances prevailing in the country on that day. However, the illegal assembly with common objectives that is the basis of this case began after the MP's security guard fired a shot. It was then that the MP and the security guard chased a group of people with rocks. The most difficult part of this case was identifying the suspects. There were no eyewitnesses. This was the first time in Sri Lankan history that the suspects were identified through forensic facial analysis. The Evidence Ordinance requires that "We accept it as evidence that falls under the law. But we cannot say that all the people in the videos are involved in the incident. The normal way for Sri Lankan people is to stay there until the incident is over. Therefore, guilt was determined based on some contribution to this crime."
The court then asked the suspects convicted of murder if they had anything to say before the death penalty was imposed.
Here are some of the comments made by the suspects:
First suspect - "Sir, I have 04 children. The eldest daughter is 22 years old; the youngest daughter is 02 years old. They don't even have a mother. This incident happened in front of my house. But I am not involved in any of this."
Fourth suspect - "Sir, I came today with my father. My father is waiting outside. He is very old now. There are 06 people in the family. I am the one who spends money on the education of my brothers and sisters."
Fifth suspect - "I have 05 children. After my sister passed away, those children were with me. We are all still living on rent. I have nothing to do with these deaths. If you give me the death penalty, it is okay to give my children the death penalty too. Because they cannot live without me."
Sixth suspect - "Sir, I just want to say that I am innocent. I need to talk to my family. I have something to tell them."
Seventh suspect - "I am not involved in anything. I went there at around 6 pm. I was wearing a purple shirt. They arrested me because I had a shirt like that in the videos."
Fourteenth suspect - "My father died. I was the one taking care of my mother and sister. The struggle started after I went to the shop. I am not involved in them. We did not even know that the deceased was an MP. I want to talk to my mother and sister."
Nineteenth suspect - "I just went to see. I did not have a hand. I want to talk to my family."
Twenty-seventh suspect - "I am innocent of all these charges. I did not kill anyone. My little son recently had an operation. I have more to do. I want to see them."
After the defendants made these statements from the dock, the lights in the open court were turned off. The courtroom was silenced by turning off the fans.
Then, after everyone stood up, High Court Judge Rashmi Singappuli read out the order sentencing the defendants to death.
"Since the accused have been found guilty of the charges and the punishment to be given is death, I hereby order that the accused be taken to the Welikada Prison and hanged until the accused lose their lives on a date and time to be determined by the President of the Republic of Sri Lanka."
The twelve convicts who were sentenced to death were then taken to the prison.
---------------------------
by (2026-02-13 17:28:46)
Read 12618 Times
Leave a Reply
0 discussion on this news