Ajith Prasanna jailed for contempt of court

By Lakmal Sooriyagoda   

Retired Major Attorney-at-Law Ajith Prasanna was yesterday sentenced to a four-year-rigorous imprisonment by the Supreme Court in connection with a contempt of court application.  

 Accordingly, a majority of a divided three-judge Supreme Court bench found Ajith Prasanna guilty for contempt of court and sentenced him to four years rigorous imprisonment. The Supreme Court further ordered him to pay a fine of Rs. 300,000 for the charges.  The Supreme Court three-judge-bench comprised Justices Preethi Padman Surasena, S. Thurairaja and Gamini Amarasekera.   

 However, in a separate judgement, Justice Gamini Amarasekara sentenced the respondent to a 30-month rigorous imprisonment with a Rs.300,000 fine for the contemptuous statement.  
A contempt of court application had been filed against Ajith Prasanna alleging that he had made a statement tantamount to contempt of court in terms of Article 105 (3) of the constitution during an interview with a YouTube channel on the 19th of January 2020.