Wimal gets arrest warrant for not being in Court

By Lakmal Sooriyagoda  

The Colombo Chief Magistrate yesterday issued a warrant for the arrest of Parliamentarian Wimal Weerawansa for not being present in Court in connection with a case filed against him by Cinnamon Gardens Police.  
The Cinnamon Garden Police charged that National Freedom Front (NFF) leader Wimal Weerawansa and five others had provided leadership to a protest which blocked the main roads at the Bauddhaloka Mawatha in 2016, causing disturbance to the people and the normal traffic movement.  

Parliamentarian Wimal Weerawansa was not present in the court when the case came up before Colombo Chief Magistrate Prasanna Alwis. Meanwhile, former Parliamentarians Weerakumara, another suspect in this case was also not present in court. However, a medical report was furnished before the court by defence counsel to support his absence.  

The Chief Magistrate expressed his dissatisfaction over the absence of the accused from time to time, resulting in the delay of the trial. The Chief Magistrate warned that he would compel to remand all the suspects until the conclusion of the trial if it happened repeatedly.  

A further magisterial inquiry is fixed for September 11.  

On February 6, 2016, the NFF staged a protest march against the visit of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein.  

Six suspects including NFF leader and Colombo District MP Wimal Weerawansa, Jayantha Samaraweera, Weerakumara Dissanayake, Piyasiri Wijenayake, Roger Seneviratne, Mohammed Muzammil and Don Lusian had been named as suspects in this case. The seventh suspect Chaminda Jayalal is evading courts from the inception . 

• The Chief Magistrate warned that he would compel to remand all the  suspects until the conclusion of the trial if it happened repeatedly
• The Chief Magistrate expressed his dissatisfaction over the absence of  the accused from time to time, resulting in the delay of the trial.
• A further magisterial inquiry is fixed for September 11