Sri Lanka's Supreme Court has ruled unanimously that former President Maithripala Sirisena's 2019 pardon of Ven. Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara Thero was arbitrary and unconstitutional, finding the President failed to independently consider the decision before granting clemency.
A three-judge Supreme Court bench comprising Justices Janak De Silva, Sobhitha Rajakaruna and Sampath B. Abayakoon delivered a unanimous judgment on Thursday declaring null and void the 2019 presidential pardon granted to Ven. Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara Thero, General Secretary of the Bodu Bala Sena organization. The court found that although the Constitution grants the President discretion to pardon offenders, this power must be exercised independently and remains subject to constitutional limits and judicial review.
Gnanasara Thero had been convicted on four counts of contempt of court stemming from conduct at the Homagama Magistrate's Court in January 2016, when he allegedly addressed the court without permission, disrupted proceedings, and made insulting remarks toward the judiciary and state counsel. The Court of Appeal sentenced him to concurrent terms totaling six years imprisonment. He served approximately nine months before receiving the presidential pardon in May 2019.
The Supreme Court's core finding centered on the manner in which Sirisena made the pardon decision. Justice De Silva noted that an Additional Secretary (Legal) had submitted a recommendation for a full pardon, but the recommendation addressed only legal issues without explaining why the President should grant clemency in the first place. Sirisena then merely approved this recommendation without demonstrating independent consideration. The court questioned whether the former President had been aware of representations opposing the pardon and noted he failed to address these matters in his subsequent affidavit, despite opportunity to do so.
With the pardon now void, Gnanasara Thero's original conviction and six-year sentence remain legally intact, though the Supreme Court judgment does not order immediate arrest or specify how much of the sentence remains to be served. The court clarified that a pardon does not erase a conviction but only suspends sentence execution. The Supreme Court stressed that another President could potentially grant a future pardon if done in accordance with proper legal procedures.
The fundamental rights petitions challenging the pardon were filed by the Centre for Policy Alternatives and its Executive Director Dr. Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu, as well as separately by Sandhya Ekneligoda, wife of missing journalist Prageeth Ekneligoda. News First notes this ruling follows previous Supreme Court decisions invalidating presidential pardons granted by former Presidents Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Sirisena himself in other cases.