January 18, Colombo (LNW): Former MP Duminda Silva, who is subject to a reinstated murder conviction, is currently receiving medical care at Sri Jayewardenepura Hospital under prison security following the suspension of the presidential pardon granted to him by the Supreme Court in 2022, the Prisons Department disclosed.
The department has communicated Silva’s medical treatment status at Jayewardenepura Hospital to relevant authorities, including the court, Prisons Spokesperson Gamini B Dissanayake confirmed.
The Prisons Department has requested the transfer of Silva to the Prisons Hospital, yet the treating specialist has advised continuing treatment at the current facility, despite the department’s preference.
Notably, the Prisons Department lacks a specialist doctor to override the recommendations of Silva’s treating physicians.
Following the suspension of the presidential pardon by the Supreme Court, Silva was apprehended by the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) while undergoing medical treatment at Sri Jayewardenepura Hospital on June 1, 2022.
The former MP’s sudden adherence to medical care highly reflects his motive of evading the restored conviction over the assassination of Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra in 2011, critics argued.
Silva was granted presidential pardon by ex President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, reversing his murder conviction declared by the Supreme Court in 2016.
Rajapaksa’s decision was challenged before the Supreme Court by filing fundamental rights (FR) petitions by former MP Hirunika Premachandra, her mother Sumana Premachandra, and former Human Rights Commissioner Ghazali Hussain.
The Supreme Court Bench comprising Justices P. Padman Surasena, Gamini Amarasekara, and Arjuna Obeysekara unanimously concluded that the pardon granted to Duminda Silva by Gotabaya Rajapaksa was flawed and therefore, unlawful.
