Hirunika submits appeal over prison sentence; seeks bail until consideration
July 1, 2024 12:55 pm
Former Member of Parliament Hirunika Premachandra has filed an appeal requesting to invalidate the recent verdict issued by the Colombo High Court sentencing her to three years rigorous imprisonment and seeking her acquittal from the case.
The relevant appeal has been handed over to the Colombo High Court to forward it to the Court of Appeal, Ada Derana reporter said.
Accordingly, Premachandra’s lawyers have also filed a bail application before the Colombo High Court requesting to release her on bail, since an appeal has been filed against the relevant verdict.
The bail application has been fixed for consideration before the Colombo High Court judge Amal Ranaraja on July 04, 2024, according to Ada Derana reporter.
The former SJB parliamentarian was sentenced after being found guilty of being involved in the abduction of a youth in the Dematagoda area on December 21, 2015 using a Defender and his wrongful detention.
The sentencing was delivered by Colombo High Court Judge Amal Ranaraja on Friday (28).
Accordingly, Premachandra was found guilty of 18 charges and the court ordered that a fine of Rs. 20,000 be imposed for each charge.
The order also stated that if the payment of the fines is defaulted, an additional 06 months imprisonment will be imposed for each charge.
Accordingly, former MP Hirunika Premachandra, who was sentenced to prison, is currently in the custody of prison officials.
Premachandra had been accused of involvement in abducting, assaulting and wrongfully detaining the youth, identified as Amila Priyanka Amarasinghe, who had been employed at a shop in the Dematagoda area.
The youth had revealed that while he was employed at a textile shop in the Dematagoda area in 2015, a female named ‘Chamila Geethani’ often visited the shop, following which the two got involved in a relationship.
It was subsequent to this incident that he was abducted by individuals who had arrived in a Defender, Amarasinghe had told the court.
In 2017, seven persons identified as supporters of Premachandra pleaded guilty before the court, however, the former Parliamentarian did not plead guilty to any of the charges levelled against her.
