ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka’s Bar Association president has come under fire for defending the Attorney General, who was forced to reverse his controversial decision to discharge key suspects in the assassination of Lasantha Wickrematunge.
Anura Maddegoda has been accused of hypocrisy and double standards for defending Attorney General Parinda Ranasinghe while having criticised a similar action by the same AG last year in another murder case involving one of Maddegoda’s clients.
In a letter dated 27 January 2025, Ranasinghe ordered the release of three key suspects in the Wickrematunge case, sparking public outrage. On 11 February, his department issued another directive, reversing the decision to discharge the suspects following a wave of protests.
The AG’s actions have drawn international attention, with human rights organisations examining the case for inclusion in a report on Sri Lanka at the next Human Rights Council session in Geneva. Ranasinghe’s conduct is seen as yet another example of obstruction of justice and the need for a truly independent public prosecutor, a human rights organisation said.
Maddegoda had strongly defended Ranasinghe’s decision to free Premanand Udalagama, a former military intelligence officer, and Prasanna Nanayakkara, the then-Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of the area. Both had been remanded and later bailed after evidence linked them to the murder and the sabotage of the investigation.
The then-Officer-in-Charge of the Mount Lavinia police crime unit, Sugathapala, who confessed to falsifying records at the behest of DIG Nanayakkara, was also ordered to be discharged.
The order was then reversed amid a public anger.
Lasantha Wickrematunge’s daughter, Ahimsa, in a four-page letter to Maddegoda, drew his attention to a client he represents and his actions in questioning the AG’s decision in that case to discharge a murder suspect without trial.
“Your decision to protest the alleged undermining of the independence of the office of the Attorney General when it comes to a flagrant abuse of his power in my father’s case is rich in hypocrisy,” Ahimsa wrote.
“You and the Bar Association clearly had a different standard when it came to the interests of one of your clients.
“Why is it that when the Attorney General sabotaged a murder investigation into one of your clients, you called it ‘obstruction of justice’, sought executive review, and the Bar Association remained silent when you obtained it?
“Why is it that when that same Attorney General sought to intervene in and unravel the investigation into one of the most critical aspects of my father’s murder, and I sought executive support to save the investigation, you and the Bar Association suddenly sprang into action in his defence?” Ahimsa asked.
There was no immediate response from the Bar Association or Maddegoda. However, social media reports suggested that Maddegoda had withdrawn from his re-election bid as president of the BASL ahead of its election on Wednesday.
Read Ahimsa’s full letter below:
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(Colombo/Feb14/2025)
