Another Attempt To Harass, Gunaratne Wanninayaka, The President Of Colombo Magistrate’s Court Lawyer’s Association
July 3, 2013
Gunaratne Wanninayaka has
complained to the police authorities that on June 24 some officers
visited his house and made inquiries about him. Later at around 2:30 pm
on the same day, two officers went to the court premises where
Wanninayaka usually practices and made inquiries about him and also
looked for his car. These two officers approached him and asked for his
business card under the pretext that they wished to consult him on a
case. Wanninayaka and several of his lawyer friends monitored the
movements of these two officers and discovered that there was a second
group of officers with the premises and these two officers approached
them to seek instructions. The lawyers also discovered that these two
officers arrived in a vehicle bearing number, GI 8786. This vehicle
belongs to the Narcotics Branch and the lawyers were able to ascertain
that these two officers were from that Branch.
Wanninayake
After lodging a complaint to the police, the police filed a case
relating to this matter before the Magistrate’s Courts and the case is
fixed for hearing tomorrow (July 4, 2013). Meanwhile the two police
officers from the Narcotics Branch approached Wanninayaka seeking a
settlement on the pretext that, in fact, the officers were looking for
someone else and they approached him on mistaken identity.
The lawyers do not believe that this explanation is plausible as
Wanninayaka is a well known lawyer in Sri Lanka. They are of the view
that these officers were looking for Wanninayaka and his vehicle as a
part of some secret operation and possibly with the view to plant some
evidence so that they could implicate him or his driver. They lawyers
inquired as to the identity of the actual person the officers were
looking for if indeed they were but the officers failed to answer this
question.
Earlier when the impeachment proceedings were taking place against the Chief Justice, Shirani Bandaranaykethere
was an attempt on the life of Wanninayaka. Some officers visited his
home and tried to abduct him which was prevented due to the intervention
of some neighbours. Despite of a complaint made to the police
authorities by him and the Magistrate’s Courts Lawyer’s Association no
credible inquiry has been held and no one has been arrested or
prosecuted for the attempted abduction. Kindly see our earlier
statement here.
Further, the Asian Human Rights Commission has repeatedly warned that
there is a sophisticated intelligence operation being carried out
against anyone who is perceived as a threat to the government.
Wanninayaka is an active member of the opposition United National Party
and also a very active member of the lawyer’s network which is fighting
for the independence of the judiciary and lawyers. Clandestine attempts
to implicate such persons are part of a scheme to blackmail and also to
fabricate charges against them.
*A Statement from the Asian Human Rights Commission
