Maithripala Sirisena and the Royal Park murderer’s pardon

Former President Maithripala Sirisena recently revealed that there had been money exchanged for a controversial presidential pardon granted by him during the final stages of his presidency. Weeks before leaving office, Sirisena granted a pardon to Jude Shramantha Jayamaha, a convicted murderer who was sentenced to death for the murder of Yvonne Jonsson at the Royal Park Condominium complex in Rajagiriya in 2005.

Sri Lanka has not judicially executed a convicted criminal since 1976 maintaining a de facto moratorium on capital punishment. However, the country’s statute books still have mandatory sentencing for certain crimes which removes the judges from granting leniency depending on the circumstances of the case. Therefore, any person convicted of murder will mandatorily be sentenced to death even though in practice the sentence is not carried out and often commuted to life imprisonment.

Commuting a death sentence to a life imprisonment can be called a humane act since the mental trauma of being kept in death row is a form of torture, especially when there is a worldwide moment to abolish the death penalty. However, issuing a pardon and releasing a convicted murderer, that too after only a few years of serving a prison sentence is an aberration and an extraordinary action.

There are currently over 1,100 persons officially on death row. Why then was this single individual, Shramantha Jayamaha who was convicted by the High Court and his sentencing upheld by the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court received a presidential pardon? It is no secret that the individual’s family is extremely wealthy and well-connected politically. Sirisena is now on record stating that he was informed that money had been exchanged to ensure Jayamaha’s release. This then is a matter that has to be investigated.

First of all, Sirisena should be investigated for his role in this pardon. If he was aware that money had been exchanged, what action did he take? If such a matter has been brought to his attention he owes a duty of care to initiate an investigation, especially since he too is implicated for being an accomplice to such a transaction. Secondly the abuse of presidential pardons must be immediately seized. A provision for a pardon by the Executive is provided in order to work as a ‘check’ on the powers of the Judiciary, since it would provide for one final means of rectifying any miscarriages of justice. However, a President arbitrarily issuing pardons for individuals due to political and financial considerations does not serve justice and results in the undermining of the whole judicial process and the rule of law.

Recently the Supreme Court decided to suspend the pardon granted by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to former Parliamentarian Duminda Silva. The interim order was issued after the court heard two fundamental rights petitions filed by former MP Hirunika Premachandra and her mother challenging the presidential pardon. In 2020 President Rajapaksa also granted a presidential pardon to Sergeant Sunil Ratnayake, of his own Gajaba regiment of the Army. Ratnayaka was on death row for the murder of eight Tamil civilians, including three children in 2000. He was sentenced to death by a Trial-at-Bar bench of the Colombo High Court in June 2015 and the verdict held by a five-judge bench of the Supreme Court.

Immediate action must be taken on the admission made by former president Sirisena on the corruption surrounding presidential pardons and there must be greater checks and balances to prevent abuse of presidential discretion on granting such pardons.