Prez says Judges to both High Court & Appeal Court were appointed by CC

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa yesterday said the High Court Judge who gave the verdict on the Premalal Jayasekera case as well as the Court of Appeal Judges were appointed by the Constitutional Council (CC) in which Karu Jayasuriya, Sajith Premadasa and Thalatha Athukorala were members.

Jayasekara and two others were sentenced to death by Ratnapura High Court in late July over a shooting incident in Kahawatte while Court of Appeal on Monday issued an interim order directing Commissioner General of Prisons to allow convicted MP Premalal Jayasekara to attend Parliament sittings.

During a meeting held with State Ministers at the Presidential Secretariat, President Rajapaksa said neither he nor the Prime Minister influenced the judicial process.

“If pressure was exerted, it should have been done at the High Court level, which never happened. The Judge who gave the verdict was appointed by the Constitutional Council in which Karu Jayasuriya, Sajith Premadasa and Thalatha Athukorala were members. It was the same Constitutional Council that appointed the Judges to the Court of Appeal. One decision is acceptable for the Opposition while the other is not,”the President said. (Lahiru Pothmulla)