President of the Court of Appeal Justice Nissanka Bandula Karunaratne said yesterday (31) that Appeal Court Judge Neil Iddawela has rejected participating in the bench of judges hearing the writ petitions submitted by former President Maithripala Sirisena requesting that the summons issued ordering him to appear before the Fort Magistrate’s Court regarding the Easter Sunday terror attacks, be annulled.
This was stated by Court of Appeal President Justice Nissanka Bandula Karunaratne when the petition was taken up for hearing in the presence of a bench of judges comprising him and Court of Appeal Judge M.A.R. Marikkar.
The presiding judge mentioned that Justice Neil Iddawela, who had been appointed as a member of the five-bench panel of judges who had previously been nominated for the hearing of the petition, had refused to participate in the hearing of the petition.
Accordingly, the presiding judge mentioned that Court of Appeal Judge D.M. Samarakone will be nominated. He said further that the petition will be taken up for hearing in the presence of Court of Appeal Judge Nissanka Bandula Karunaratne and Judges Sobitha Rajakaruna, Menaka Wijesundara, Dhammika Ganepola, and D. N. Samarakone, while the petition hearing was scheduled to be held on October 16, 17, 18, 20 before the judges mentioned above.
Father Cyril Gamini and Jesuraj Ganesan, who was injured in a terrorist attack, had filed a personal complaint before the Fort Magistrate’s Court and requested that the former President be named as a suspect under criminal charges regarding the Easter Sunday attacks.
After considering the complaint, Fort Magistrate Thilina Gamage issued a summons ordering former President Maithripala Sirisena to appear before the Fort Magistrate’s Court on October 14.
Subsquently the former president had filed this writ petition in the Court of Appeal requesting that the summons be annulled. The Court of Appeal, which considered the basic facts regarding the petition, decided to take it up for hearing on October 14 and ordered the Fort Magistrate Thilina Gamage to postpone the hearing of the criminal complaint against Maithripala Sirisena for 10 weeks.
Considering the seriousness of the allegations against the former president, including dereliction of duty as the defence minister, and the importance of the criminal incident to the people, the party that submitted the private complaint to the Fort Magistrate’s Court submitted a motion to the Court of Appeal to consider this petition before a full bench in accordance with Provision 146 of the Constitution.
The President of the Court of Appeal who considered the facts regarding the motion, decided to name a panel of five judges to hear the petition.
Nelka Medagedera