On Tuesday 8 September a man sentenced to death has hired the post of parliamentarian in Sri Lanka, for the first time in the history of the country. The man, Premalal Jayasekara, is part of the Sri Lankan People’s Front (SLPP), which is the party of president Gotabaya Rajapaksa and governs with a clear majority in parliament. Jayasekara was taken to parliament directly from prison, where he was serving his sentence for killing an opposition party activist in 2015. Despite the election of a convict violating the Sri Lankan Constitution, the Court of Appeals found it legitimate. Jayasekara’s election as parliamentarian because the sentence that confirmed the sentence came after his candidacy during the last elections in Sri Lanka, held last August 5th.
Premalal Jayasekara he is 45 and has been involved in politics for over twenty years. He became a member of the Sri Lankan parliament for the first time in 2001, while in recent years, those of governments of presidents Rajapaksa, has had roles of particular importance in economic development policies. In January 2015 Jayasekara shot an opposition party activist during a demonstration before the presidential election, killing him. Although Jayasekara was convicted of the murder on July 31, 2020, he has always pleaded innocent.
Before the elections on 5 August, the opposition had challenged Jayasekara’s re-nomination as a parliamentarian, considering it unconstitutional that a convict could stand as a candidate, but the Electoral Commission had declared it legitimate. In the Jayasekara elections He obtained 104,237 preferences in his district, that of Ratnapura, and therefore asked to be admitted to parliament despite the sentence. On September 7, the Court of Appeal recognized his request and on September 8 Jayasekara was able to swear in parliament and take office.
– Read also: The ruling party won the elections in Sri Lanka
Jayasekara’s presence at his first session in parliament caused arguments and protests from the main opposition party (Samagi Jana Balawegaya), which is led by Sajith Premadasa, the son of former president Ranasinghe Premadasa, who was killed in 1993. The speaker of parliament, Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena, rejected the objections of the opponents during and after the oath because Jayasekara’s presence had been authorized by the court.
Among other things, the opposition claims that Jayasekara has been admitted to parliament in violation of the Constitution only because it is part of the ruling party. Such as he told the Colombo Gazette, the leading online news newspaper in Sri Lanka, opposition MPs in the courtroom wore black scarves in protest of Jayasekara’s election, then got up and left the courtroom.
Samagi Jana Balawegaya members walk out of Parliament https://t.co/I5Zc8Cy1Jq via @colombogazette #Srilanka #lka @sjbsrilanka @sajithpremadasa @ParliamentLK
— Colombo Gazette (@colombogazette) September 8, 2020
Jayasekara will have the benefits of all parliamentarians, but will continue to stay in prison and will only be escorted to parliament during the sessions.
Although the Sri Lankan penal system provides for the death penalty, the last execution of a death sentence dates back to 1976. Jayasekara is not the first MP to be escorted from prison to parliament: Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan, a former senior official of the Eastern Province of Sri Lanka who is awaiting trial for murder.
–
