Gnanasara Thero denied leave to appeal sentence
August 31, 2018 02:19 pm
The Court of Appeal today rejected Venerable Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara Thero’s application for leave to appeal his sentence.
Attorneys representing the Thero had filed an application for leave to appeal the six-year sentence given to the General Secretary of the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) organization.
The application was taken up for consideration today (31) before a judge bench comprising Court of Appeal President, Justice Preethi Padman Surasena and Justice Arjuna Obeyesekere.
However, the lawyers representing the Thero said that they would appeal to the Supreme Court against the sentence.
Ven. Galagodaaththe Gnanasara Thero was convicted of four charges over Contempt of Court and sentenced by the Appeal Court to 19 years of rigorous imprisonment, to be completed within 6 years on August 08.
The Attorney General had filed the case against Gnanasara Thero following a petition submitted to the Appeals Court by the former Homagama Magistrate and current Colombo Chief Magistrate Ranga Dissanayake.
Gnanasara Thero was charged for threatening Sandya Ekneligoda, the wife of missing journalist Prageeth Eknaligoda and Contempt of Court by behaving in an unruly manner within the Homagama court premises.
