TNA condemns pardoning of murder convict

The Tamil National Alliance (TNA), which is Sri Lanka’s main political party representing Tamils in the North and East, condemned President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s decision to release Army staff sergeant Sunil Ratnayake, who was convicted of murder.   

“If true, we condemn the opportunistic action of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa under the guise of dealing with 

the issue of prisoners at a time like this. This is one case, in which a person was actually convicted. Other cases were not even prosecuted or acquitted,” the TNA tweeted.   
Sri Lanka has been on a near total lock-down and an enforced curfew for a week now, with 106 COVID-19 infected patients so far. In 2015, Staff Sergeant Ratnayake was tried before a three-member bench of the Colombo High Court. He was convicted of charges of murder which had taken place at Mirusuvil in the Jaffna Peninsula and sentenced to death. In 2019, the Supreme Court affirmed the conviction and the sentence.    

The case is widely cited as a rare instance of accountability, amid lingering concerns over impunity for war-crimes committed during Sri Lanka’s three-decade civil war. (Hindu) 

If true, we condemn the opportunistic action of President Gotabaya  Rajapaksa under the guise of dealing with the issue of prisoners at a  time like this