Former Sri Lankan Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, has filed a petition seeking to void the recommendations made against him by the President’s Commission on Political Victimisation.
The Commission was established by Rajapaksa in January 2020 and sought to derail ongoing investigations into his allies and relatives begun under the previous administration, during which Wickremesinghe was Prime Minister. As well as calling for the dismissal of high-profile cases of human rights violations and disappearances, the Commission has called for the prosecution of those involved in these investigations.
The Commission has further called for prosecuting the 22 members of the previous government’s Anti- Corruption Committee, which was chaired by Wickremesinghe. The Commission calls for these members to be prosecuted for “misuse of public property” and alleges that these members have violated their oaths and provisions of the Constitution.
Wickremesinghe has called on the courts to call to examine the record of the Commission and to issue an interim order until the final decision of the petition.
Human Rights Watch has also condemned the Commission maintaining that it “further undermine the independence of the judiciary and rule of law, which has been severely weakened under the administration of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa”.
The members of this Committee include, former Minister Mangala Samaraweera, Patali Champika Ranawaka, Rauf Hakeem, Sarath Fonseka, Tamil National Alliance leader R. Sampanthan, Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake, a former member of Parliament Jayampathi Wickremeratne, Attorney-at-law J. C. Weliamuna, former Director of the Criminal Investigations Department Shani Abeysekera, and Additional Solicitor General of the Attorney General’s Department Thusith Mudalige served in the Anti- Corruption Committee.
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