28 March, 2024

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Death Penalty Again In Focus: An Efficient Criminal Justice, The Only Answer

By Jayampathy Wickramaratne

Dr Jayampathy Wickramaratne PC

‘The greatest deterrent to crime is the likelihood that offenders will be apprehended, convicted and punished. It is that which is presently lacking in our criminal justice system; and it is at this level and through addressing the causes of crime that the State must seek to combat lawlessness.’ ~ Justice Chaskalson, in the South African Constitutional Court case of State v. Makwanyane

On 26 June 2019, President Sirisena, who had been for some time talking about the need for the resumption of capital punishment in respect of serious drug offenders, announced that he had signed the necessary papers to execute four drug offenders. His decision to reverse Sri Lanka’s forty-three-year-old moratorium on capital punishment evoked concern both in and outside the country, including from the UN Secretary-General.

The decision was challenged in the Supreme Court by several petitioners who contended that it had been recognised and is an accepted norm that drug-related offences are not classified among the most serious types of offences. There was thus no rational basis for the President’s selective choice of whom to execute, especially considering that he has commuted the death sentences of persons convicted of far more serious types of crimes. It was also an act which would have far-reaching consequences on the country and its citizenry and is irreversible. It cannot, therefore, be carried out based on the whims and fancies of one person acting contrary to the position of the State as a whole. Many death row inmates have been in post-conviction custody for a long period of time, and the belated implementation of the death penalty would be contrary to due process of law. The President’s decision to implement the death penalty was thus arbitrary and irrational and violative of Article 12(1) of the Constitution. It was further contended that even if the implementation of the death penalty was permissible, death by hanging is a cruel and inhumane method of execution (compared to more humane forms such as lethal injection) and, as such, also amounts to cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment within the meaning of Article 11 of the Constitution. Executing the death penalty on persons who have already served a long period of imprisonment amounted to a dual punishment: lengthy incarceration under very severe conditions followed by an execution.

Sirisena

On 05 July 2019, the Supreme Court issued an interim order staying the execution of the death penalty. The interim order was extended from time to time. On 23 February 2023, the Attorney-General informed the Court that President Wickremesinghe would not sign any warrant of execution. The Court terminated the proceedings, reserving the right of the petitioners to revive the cases in the event of an imminent threat of any execution being carried out in the future. 

A few days later, on 01 March 2023, Opposition and SJB leader Sajith Premadasa told an election rally that those convicted of terrorism, including the Easter bombings, and trading in drugs would be executed under an SJB government even though that would be opposed by liberals. SJB stalwart Eran Wickramaratne was quick to respond that the SJB did not have an official position on the death penalty. On 22 October 2020, Premadasa had told Parliament that the death penalty should be carried out on those convicted of terrorism and involvement in the drugs trade as a business. When Minister Sabry asked him whether that was his personal opinion or that of his party, Premadasa confirmed that it was the position of the party. 

Sajith Premadasa

Eran Wickramaratne, an economist and a liberal, is no doubt aware of the consequences of his Party speaking in favour of the death penalty even while in the Opposition, leave alone executing convicts when in power. After President Sirisena began talking about resuming the death penalty, Heads of  Missions (HoMs) of the European Union in Sri Lanka called for abolishing the death penalty after meeting a group of government legislators. ‘The HoMs reiterated their call to Sri Lanka to maintain its moratorium on the death penalty with a view towards complete abolition. During the meeting, the HoMs restated the strong and unequivocal opposition of the EU and its Member States to capital punishment in all circumstances and in all cases,’ a statement from the EU Delegation in Sri Lanka said. ‘If Sri Lanka resumes capital punishment, Colombo will immediately lose the GSP Plus status’, an EU diplomatic source had told the AFP.

Premadasa’s position is not new. When MPs Hirunika Premachandra and Ranjan Ramanayake moved an adjournment motion in the last Parliament in October 2015, calling for the execution of those convicted of raping children and killing them, Premadasa expressed similar views. The large majority of Members who spoke on the motion were opposed to the death penalty both from a human rights perspective as well as a criminal justice point of view.

The writer participated in the debate and cited the landmark case of State v. Makwanyane where the South African Constitutional Court held that the death penalty was inconsistent with the Interim Constitution of South Africa. Justice Chaskalson famously stated that the greatest deterrent to crime is not the death penalty but ‘the likelihood that offenders will be apprehended, convicted and punished’, adding what is true for most countries: ‘It is that which is lacking in our criminal justice system.’

Colvin

The Left in Sri Lanka has always been against the death penalty. Dr NM Perera, speaking in the State Council on 20 November 1936, opposed the idea of ‘an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.’ During the Parliamentary debate to abolish the death penalty in 1956, Dr Colvin R. de Silva said, ‘Of all things that the State may take away from man, there is one thing which if you take away you cannot only not return, but you can never compensate him for, that is his life. You may put a man in prison and deprive his liberty. You cannot, of course, return him the days he was in prison, but you may in some degree compensate him in other ways for the wrong that is recognised to have been done when you locked him away. But if you take his life, you may compensate his dependants and his relatives but never, can you give him anything adequate or inadequate, to replace that which was taken from him, once you are dead you may never brought to life again.’ 

Being one of the finest criminal lawyers this country has produced, Dr de Silva surely knew the frailties of our criminal justice system. In Makwanyane, Justice Mahomed commented on the irreversibility of the death penalty if it is later found that an innocent person had been executed: ‘Its inherently irreversible consequence, makes any reparation or correction impossible, if subsequent events establish, as they have sometimes done, the innocence of the executed or circumstances which demonstrate manifestly that he did not deserve the sentence of death.’

Innocent but sentenced/executed

Criminal justice history is replete with cases of innocents executed, including from countries claiming to have better criminal justice processes. In England, Timothy Evans was executed in 1950 for murdering a woman. Three years later, serial killer John Christie admitted responsibility for killing six women, including the woman Evans purportedly killed! In Russia, in February 1994, serial killer Andrei Chikatilo was executed for the highly publicised murders of 52 people. The authorities acknowledged that they had previously executed the ‘wrong man,’ Alexander Kravchenko, for one of the murders in their desire ‘to stop the killings quickly.’

CBK

Knee-jerk reactions to terrorism at the expense of human rights are common. The cases of the Guildford Four and the Maguire Seven related to the conflict in Northern Ireland may be mentioned. Four persons were sentenced to life imprisonment in 1975 in the Guildford Four case, convicted of bombings carried out at the Guildford Pub in 1974 by the Provisional Irish Republican Army. The Guildford Four’s claims that their confessions had been extracted by force were rejected by the trial court. The court expressed regret that the Four had not been charged with treason, which still carried the death penalty. Years later, evidence pointing to the innocence of the accused but concealed from the trial court surfaced. They were released in October 1989 after their convictions were quashed on the basis of the evidence discovered. 

The Maguire Seven were charged with possessing nitroglycerine, allegedly passed to the IRA to make bombs, in December 1974. They were tried and convicted in 1976 despite the accused claiming their alleged confessions were obtained under severe duress. They were sentenced to imprisonment, and their appeals failed. Later, evidence that the London Metropolitan Police beat some of the accused into confessing to the crimes and withheld information that was favourable to them surfaced. This led to the convictions being quashed in 1991 in a special appeal. 

H.G. Dharmadasa, a former Commissioner of Prisons, who witnessed seven judicial hangings, told the Daily FT in July 2019 that there is no guarantee that an innocent would not be executed, however watertight the case may seem. ‘Judges and juries can make mistakes, and the manner in which crimes are sensationalised in the media often blur the line between fact and fiction and can influence judgments. You can hang 100 guilty men, but if you hang one innocent man, the system is a failure,’ Dharmadasa opined.

Worldwide trend towards abolition

Internationally, there is a clear trend towards abolishing the death penalty. According to Amnesty International, while more than 106 countries had abolished the death penalty by July 2018, 8 have abolished it for ordinary crimes, and 28 have not implemented it for at least ten years. Fifty-five countries have retained capital punishment. By the end of 2021, 108 countries, a majority of all countries, had abolished the death penalty in law for all crimes, while 144, more than two-thirds of all countries, had abolished it in law or practice. 

The committee appointed by the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Human Rights to draft a new fundamental rights chapter for the Constitution that accords with Sri Lanka’s international obligations recommended the abolition of the death penalty in its report submitted in November 2009. 

The committee stated that it was not unmindful of public concerns that the crime rate in Sri Lanka is on the increase and that some persons convicted of grave crimes and sentenced to life imprisonment or long terms come out of prison quite early. The solution to this is judicial control of parole. It recommended that in respect of those who are sentenced to long periods of imprisonment, legal provision should be made for the sentencing judge to make an order that the offender’s term of imprisonment should not be reduced unless authorised by the court in the circumstances and manner and to the extent provided by law. 

The committee noted that no person had been executed in Sri Lanka since 1975 and that in both 2007 and 2008, Sri Lanka voted at the United Nations in favour of resolutions calling for a moratorium on executions as a step towards the ultimate abolition of the death penalty. The 2007 resolution referred to, which was affirmed in 2008, declared ‘[t]hat the use of the death penalty undermines human dignity, and convinced that a moratorium on the use of the death penalty contributes to the enhancement and progressive development of human rights, that there is no conclusive evidence of the deterrent value of the death penalty and that any miscarriage or failure of justice in the implementation of the death penalty is irreversible and irreparable.’

Sri Lanka voted again in 2010 in favour of a moratorium on the death penalty but abstained in 2012 and 2014 during the second term of President Mahinda Rajapaksa. Sri Lanka again voted in favour in 2016 and 2018. The ‘yes’ vote has been increasing consistently. In 2018, 121 out of the 193 member states voted ‘yes’, 35 opposing, and 32 abstaining. The 2020 vote was 123 in favour, 38 votes against, 24 countries abstaining and eight absent. On 15 December 2022, the General Assembly adopted the ninth resolution for a moratorium with 125 votes in favour (2 more than in 2020), 37 votes against, 22 abstentions and nine absent. Sri Lanka voted in favour both in 2020 and 2022.

Is the death penalty a deterrent?

One of the most common arguments in favour of the death penalty is that it is a deterrent against serious crime. If that is the case, serious crime figures in jurisdictions with the death penalty should be lower than in those that do not have the death penalty.

Not all states in the United States have the death penalty. Murder rates in death penalty states and non-death penalty states show unmistakably that the death penalty is not a deterrent at all. The following table giving murder rates has been prepared based on the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reports and published on the website of the Death Penalty Information Centre. Murder rates have been calculated by dividing the number of murders by the total population in the death penalty and non-death penalty states, respectively and multiplying that by 100,000. 

A poll of 500 Police chiefs in the United States was conducted in 2008 by R.T. Strategies of Washington, DC. When asked to name one area as ‘most important for reducing violent crime’, Police chiefs ranked the death penalty last. They considered issues such as increasing the number of police officers, reducing drug abuse, and creating a better economy as higher priorities.

Michael L. Radelet, Chair Professor of Sociology at the University of Colorado-Boulder, in his 2009 article ‘Do Executions Lower Homicide Rates?: The Views of Leading Criminologists’ published in the Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, stated:

‘Our survey indicates that the vast majority of the world’s top criminologists believe that the empirical research has revealed the deterrence hypothesis for a myth. … 88.2% of polled criminologists do not believe that the death penalty is a deterrent. … 9.2% answered that the statement ‘[t]he death penalty significantly reduces the number of homicides’ was accurate. … Overall, it is clear that however measured, fewer than 10% of the polled experts believe the deterrence effect of the death penalty is stronger than that of long-term imprisonment. … Recent econometric studies, which posit that the death penalty has a marginal deterrent effect beyond that of long-term imprisonment, are so limited or flawed that they have failed to undermine consensus. In short, the consensus among criminologists is that the death penalty does not add any significant deterrent effect above that of long-term imprisonment.’

Justice Thurgood Marshall, in his concurrent opinion in the landmark US case of Furman v. Georgia, stated: ‘It is generally agreed between the retentionists and abolitionists, whatever their opinions about the validity of comparative studies of deterrence, that the data which now exist show no correlation between the existence of capital punishment and lower rates of capital crime. Despite the fact that abolitionists have not proved non-deterrence beyond a reasonable doubt, they have succeeded in showing by clear and convincing evidence that capital punishment is not necessary as a deterrent to crime in our society.

In light of the massive amount of evidence before us, I see no alternative but to conclude that capital punishment cannot be justified on the basis of its deterrent effect.’

Lee Sarokin, a former US Court of Appeals Judge, says in his 2011 article ‘Is It Time to Execute the Death Penalty?’ published on the Huffington Post website: ‘In my view, deterrence plays no part whatsoever. Persons contemplating murder do not sit around the kitchen table and say I won’t commit this murder if I face the death penalty, but I will do it if the penalty is life without parole. I do not believe persons contemplating or committing murder plan to get caught or weigh the consequences. Statistics demonstrate that states without the death penalty have consistently lower murder rates than states with it, but frankly, I think those statistics are immaterial and coincidental. Fear of the death penalty may cause a few to hesitate, but certainly not enough to keep it in force.’

It is clear from the above that the most effective deterrent against serious crime is an effective criminal justice system. A person who knows that the chances of a crime being properly investigated and successfully prosecuted, and the culprit given a proportionate punishment are high, s/he would hesitate to commit it.

The writer wishes to conclude this article with an anecdote. The issue of reinstating the death penalty came up for discussion in the second term of President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, with several Ministers also speaking in favour. Concerned by these reports, several persons suggested that I ‘counsel’ President Kumaratunga on the issue. I met the President, armed with facts and figures. I was barely into my second sentence when she cut me short, ending my shortest conversation with her on any subject, saying: ‘Anybody can suggest, but it is I who has to sign the warrant of execution. I will never do that.’ This was a person whose father and husband were both assassinated and whom herself had narrowly escaped assassination while losing one eye.

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Latest comments

  • 18
    1

    The recent economic crisis murdered hundreds of lives, and continue to take lives every day. The war for Buddhist Fundamentalism took thousands of innocent lives over half a century. The death penalty may punish those who became criminals because of innocence and lack of knowledge but those who became criminals because of power greedy with full knowledge simply escape legally.

    • 5
      2

      All’s forgiven: well-done Ranil! ……… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCfJLR7sS9I

      I’m with Ranil all the way. ……. 51st, here we come! Sinhala_Man, get rid of your phoney Brit; get a Yankee twang …….. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkchSyIrWg8&t=13s

      No one has heard of Sri Lanka, let alone ye insignificant puny little STC …….. or Ranil’s beloved buggery-central where he learned the fine-art of sticking it up 22 million.

      “School your name” in Harvard.

      Ol’ Ranil is aiming high!

  • 20
    1

    “On 26 June 2019, President Sirisena, who had been for some time talking about the need for the resumption of capital punishment in respect of serious drug offenders, announced that he had signed the necessary papers to execute four drug offenders. His decision to reverse Sri Lanka’s forty-three-year-old moratorium on capital punishment evoked concern both in and outside the country, including from the UN Secretary-General.”
    Was this same gamarala not the person who set free a convicted murderer out of life in prison under his watch?
    Was he not the same person who neglected his primary responsibility of defending 250+ people from Easter bombing having been informed of the impending attacks weeks before it happend?
    We don’t have leaders in Sri Lanka, we have crooks who are actors pretending to the public.
    They should be tried and hanged for crimes against the country to make a very good example.

    • 14
      2

      HT, you are so right. Sirisena became president with the support of the UNP, but his spinelessness betrayed the SLFP and everyone came forward to make him president.
      Reverend Sobit Thera, who passed away, was the first to predict the subtlety and deceitful nature of Sorisena and Medamulana animals. Madam CBK then recommended SORYSENA as a man of good record, however, he ended up with his enemies as not even all primitve leaders would do. That is the real threat to srilanken moderate thinkers.
      .
      What did the powerful (so-called clean) JVP members do on the same day when a murderer and a criminal were brought to Parliament? Nothing. What did law and order professionals do? Perpetual ignorance allowed the middle-class animals to do what they thought was right. I think our people are wrong.

      This is still explained by sorysena today, how Sri Lanka is an upside down world. Sirisena and Rajapaksa should have been jailed for a long time, giving Sri Lanka a break from stupid hegemony. Even today, 200 or more Rajaksas are guarded at taxpayers’ expense. This culture should be broken in a short period of time and a noticeable change should be made in this country.

      • 5
        0

        Dear LM: You asked: What did the powerful (so-called clean) JVP members do on the same day when a murderer and a criminal were brought to Parliament?” You answered your own question and said: “Nothing”.

        I suggest you say “Nothing” in my “Kadamandiya” terminology” LABBA THAMAI”.

      • 10
        0

        leelagemalli

        I miss all my Sparring mates,
        soma(n),
        Lester,
        K A Sumanasekera,
        NAK,
        thondamany,
        sach,
        Ben Hurling,
        mechanic,
        David Blacker,
        maalumiris,
        Jim softy,
        Off The Wall,
        Eusense,
        Eagle Eye
        …….
        ……..
        ………
        …………

        • 8
          2

          NV,
          What happened to them?. was death penalty carried out? I missed them all ? Don’t you NV ?Poor souls? No way to resurrect?.

          • 4
            0

            srikrish

            “. was death penalty carried out?”

            We should ask nimal fernando.

            “No way to resurrect?.”

            Before being resurrected we need to obtain nimal fernando’s consent.

          • 4
            2

            Could be sheer boredom.

        • 9
          1

          Native,
          “I miss all my Sparring mates,..”
          But you have new ones like Deepthi, Svenson, SJ, Ravi P, punchi, ……
          Aren’t you happy?

          • 7
            1

            old codger

            Ravi Perera the Sinhala speaking Demela disappears for months on end. You cannot rely on him for fun.

            Deepthi Desperate believes she/he is formidable opponent in challenging this forum. So let her continue to believe what she/he believes.

            Our good old SJ is gradually losing his marbles, not fun anymore.

            Poor Svenson is trying to replace SJ however it is a formitable task, … He has to learn to selectively forget history. He shouldn’t under any circumstances apologise when he is wrong.

            • 3
              2

              “Our good old SJ is gradually losing his marbles, not fun anymore.”
              If true, would he not be a great match for you, who have already got there.

          • 3
            2

            OC
            Excuse me.
            I have kept his knee in constant jerk for years.
            Others are late comers, including his ball bearer.

            • 2
              1

              Deadwood, excuse me. Try keeping that wobbly arthritic knees of yours together before jerking others. Excessive kneeling, bending and going down as Professor ((for favors ) would have taken a toll.

              • 2
                2

                A few more new words! Nice.
                So, that is what you are put through at home day in day out?
                Tell us some more about what it has done to you– will it explain your nasty abusive language?
                I am a very sympathetic listener.

        • 0
          2

          I did not read this essay only because I started to get a sense the author has gone into the fence of Jehan PhD’s side. I started to write this comment because I saw Sumane’s (K A Sumanasekera) name. He was one of my best pals in CT. He, here (CT), frequently asks questions from me or brings messages for me. I sadly miss him. At the start, he was a dedicated contributor for the SLFP group. In the 2019 election he supported Hitler. Then he sounded disappointed in me when he thought I had stepped up my criticism on Hitler’s arrival to power. I promptly assured him that it was not so. Then somebody suggested, on some differences with Hitler of his reporting somewhere else, he was shot and thrown on the roadside as one of the first victims of Hitler. If Sumane will not be coming back to CT, our last respect for him, from the CT gang! Hitler is such a SinhaLE tyrant, mercilessly murders even his ardent supporters.

          My other pal was OTC. He started to phase off his comments when Yahapalanaya took government. It was indigestible for him that a UNP based government was formed in 2015. He might be a Lawyer, following the Playboy Minister’s path.

          Oh, my pals Amare & UOJ Sadampi, China Communist boy, Anthony! They left seeing arrival of Yahapalanaya?

        • 5
          0

          NV
          I think those poor bastards must have died of heartbreak having been verbally battered on CT by people like you.
          So sad 🤣🤣🤣🤣
          You forgot to mention the wack job Champs by the way, perhaps that one has gone to Russia to carry Putin’s ba××s.
          Sorry I mean “Mr. Putin’s…”
          Eagle Eye was struck by lightening while flying blind in a storm.
          How about HDL Mahindapala, don’t you miss him. That one was a rare specimen. Having been married to a Tamil lady, he was criticising Tamil people all day. What an ass.
          There is one more nut job who still writes, I don’t want to mention his name, I have no time to argue with idiots. You know what they say about arguing with Idiots, people watching will not know the difference.
          I can give you a clue though, he often speaks a lot of grammar, all off point.🤣🤣🤣🤣

        • 3
          0

          Thank you NV.
          I think most of them are just a single person. They wanted to pretend that most of them were against our thoughts. I miss that “Amarasiri”. Must have died in between.
          David Blacker uses another alias to represent himself. Eagle must have died in the meantime. I think Mahindapala is still alive. Perhaps he is going through all the difficulties with his last breath.

          SRIALNKEN society is more sinister and hypocritical than it appears. So how can we expect voters to use their heads using ballot papers? Keeping society stupid is a long term project by the Rajapakse gang (Royal astrologer, all other astrologers on TV channels, Ghanakka, Galthanna temple, Valampuri man, Royal doctor etc). This is how they were able to win the votes again and again in the more literate western province.
          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0qnHTZ4JJI
          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxZ_K587Xc8
          It became clear to me after watching some videos broadcasted by SLRC breaking the myths of our rotten society.
          Today I caught FLU and was watching SRILANKEN videos. There I came across an “extraordinary” series telecast by SLRC.

    • 3
      1

      Death penalty? One of the best candidates…corrupt Rajapaksha family. When these b*****ds loot the country’s money in their unconscionable quest to become millionaires/billionaires there is no hope for this poor country. For the crimes which they have committed, wish their lives are terminated, legally or by nature. For the sake of future generations get rid of this crap, all of these corrupt pathetic b*****ds. Future generations will be thankful to the present for just doing that.

      Ps
      Wish Sri Lanka can find a brand new clean clever political leader with a backbone with strong knees who can bring this poor country out of this mess and also prosecute the rogues, imprison and confiscate the stolen billions PLUS wipe this corrupt disgusting thakkadi family out of the country’s soil for good. This family is a cancer, this family is a curse.

      We don’t give a rat’s ass to the colour used to represent a political ideology movement or a party. All what we ask for is to have a clean political system run by a clean strong political leader who can clean up this poor country we called our home. When the system is clean when the system is free of crooks, everything else will fall into right place at the right time, we believe.

  • 5
    0

    Those who are in death penalty are not in the death penalty after some time what specific circumstances make eligible for a death sentence

    • 13
      1

      RBH59

      Since 1969 although death sentence was available Judges but never carried out physically. However extra judicial killing is another matter. In Sri Lanka at least 300,000 innocent people have been killed since 1971.

      By the way Hpper Sirisena wanted to reintroduce actual execution on death row inmates after meeting his mate Duterte in Philippines in Jan 2019. He didn’t realise he needed his b***s to carry out such drastic (?) measures. People don’t like judicial killing however they don’t mind extrajudicial killings by Police, Armed forces, party paramilitary, armed groups, …….

      • 5
        1

        Hopper Sira is a pathetic dumb ass who tried to run the country through his gamarala view point. He had zero intellect. Sorrysena was the perfect name for him.
        His 4 year term was disaster with the Easter bombing as the crown.
        I honestly don’t understand why we even consider such uneducated gode losers to lead us.
        A country like SL should be lead by elite technocrats who can transform Sri Lanka to the likes of Singapore, HongKong or Taiwan.
        We should be keeping pace with cutting edge state of the art tech.
        People like Cry Baby AKD can only sit around and bicker all day. Can he make a good leader, of course not. He is a big bloody Godaya.
        We need people who think outside the box to help us get back on track.
        Technology is our path out of this stagnant mess we are in.

        • 4
          0

          Dear HT,
          CBK and RW did many good things to this country but Mlechcha MEDIA (media owners are MARA-Media henchmen) never transported the truths to the people.
          They did it with all those hidden agendas. Artistes were bought cheaply in order to succeed their fans (Malini Fonseka, Ravindra Randeniya, Jackson Anthony and many others became their messengers and were true parasites by spending people’s tax money). THose fans then turned out to be RAJAPAKSA -voters.
          .
          There is enough evidence to see that all the high-tech weapons costing a lot of money were mostly bought on CBK’s terms. Teachers and civil servants across the country were given huge pay raises during her two terms, introducing revolutionary changes to the education system. “Late Honorable Minister L. Kadir. I met him once in BONN. He was the best F. M. who handled our foreign affairs to the best of his ability. He prevented the mobilisation of LTTE terrorism by agreeing to “ban their activities” in their territory. All this happened Thanks to their good diplomatic relations.. Good diplomatic relations built by LK et al.
          But after MaRA became president with the support of “Helaya led sinhala supremacism ” the harvest of CBK external relationship were harvested by MaRa. Yellow pet were instrumental making those commoners stupidier as was the case in Octorber 2018.
          That’s why I think not only politicians our stupid people should be blamed for their indifference and apathetic nature.

          tbc

          • 5
            0

            cont.

            Actually, after May 2009, the war budget should be saved in huge portions and used better for the development of the country. However, MARA’s misadministration never thought but borrowed high interest loans from China, as no other leaders had done before. BMICH or the like grants were gotten from China thanks to Mrs B. Unfortunately, MaRa though became close to China for chinese interests, but the Chinese never offered anything for free.
            :
            Bandaranaike-Chinese diplomatic relations were greatly abused by uneducated BASTARDS CREATED by DA RAJAPAKSA. Today, people in this land are obliged to pay off their stupidity.
            Mara should have quit politics after ending the civil war because ULTRA fool has no knowledge at all about development projects.
            https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post_turtle
            But the so-called war victory-based post-Turtle made Mahinda Hora a “religion” forever blinding most of the rural backgrounds (i.e. 70% eligible majority of voters). Even today, as I experienced it in November 2022, the people are still pro-Mahinda more than anyone else. This is a disease in this country.

            • 2
              0

              LLM,
              “BMICH or the like grants were gotten from China thanks to Mrs. B. Unfortunately, MaRa though became close to China for Chinese interests, but the Chinese never offered anything for free.”
              How and Why would one, (let alone the Chinese), justify such Charitable act, when the MaRa the maestro of SL himself demands 20% of the total sum as his personal wealth – away for himself!!?? The Chinese would have found it hard to convince the Chinese public (Not that Chinese have such democratic methods of justification!) in order to give a grant or even low interest Government to Government Aid/Grant or soft Loan!!??
              First time, would recall Chinese government gave development loan on commercial interest to SL!!
              Kudos to MaRa – Maestro, Sri Lankans hail as the Political Saviour, Patriot, Appachche & Maestro
              WHAT MORE COULD ONE ATTRIBUTE?
              If that was a very ‘patriotic act of Saviour’, COULD ANYONE EXPLAIN WHAT IS NOT AN ACT OF A SAVIOUR AND PATRIOT!!! Self-serving patriots, saviours for their political gain, paid EXTRAORDINARILY at TAX PAYERS expense!!?? Claim, SELFLESS SERVICE TO POOR Lankans, CHILDREN THEY GRAB AND KISS AT ELECTIONS!!
              Ensure Kids remembrance, dastardly act, when repaying WHAT THESE PERFIDIOUS SCOUNDRELS “PLAYEDOUT”????

  • 13
    3

    Sometimes sacrificing 225+1 may save 22 million.

  • 18
    0

    Do you remember a few years ago, there was a convicted murderer who was attending parliament session from prison.
    In essence the guy was allowed to contribute to national policy even as a convicted murderer.
    What does that tell us about the integrity and validity of decisions made on behalf of the citizens?
    Most of the parliamentarians are crooks, criminals, uneducated, drug pushing, thieving, self serving Monkies that we the public have chosen to represent us.
    What do you expect Sri Lanka to be in the hands of such animals.
    Better to have 10 good honest capable disciplined, principled people to represent us than to have 225 shit heads?

    • 18
      0

      “Better to have 10 good honest capable disciplined, principled people to represent us than to have 225 shit heads?”
      .
      The biggest problem is that whole lot of people in our region dont seem to identify ” shit heads ” from the others.
      .
      That is why they fall in same pit again and again.
      .
      🤔🤔🤔

      • 5
        0

        Dear LM: You are absolutely correct in saying that we have failed to identify those “Shit Heads”.

        But the good news is that we are doing that identification at present. Slowly but steadily, we are identifying them, and those “Shit Heads” are leaving and some have already left a long time ago.

        I think that the “Cleaning Operation” is working smoothly.

        Aren’t yoy happy to get that news?.

        • 2
          0

          Dear Simon (mahathmaya, not mahaththaya).
          Thank you, may be
          you kidding or dreaming?
          What clear signs have you discerned that they are going haywire?
          Again and again we fell for the deceptions of the media. Media was always with the criminals and their hidden agendas.

          Many might care less about the threat of media scammers. Recently our articulated it as no others. “If a leader deceives a whole nation in its lust for power, it can commit no other great crime”: I remembered it now. This is why I hate Rajapaksa again and again.

          srilanken media just want to succeed their commercial profits. Making hay where there is sun. Proverbial statments make it clear to us.
          You are not wrong to say that small signs maybe, but how do you distinguish them from similar situations shortly before the Gotha election?

          Those were the days of being caught by a tide by all walks of people. What do you make of the Pinguththaraya and their unexpected silence today ?

          It is important to closely monitor the actual changes in thinking about normality. Our people have failed to succed it so far in this regard. It is similar to ” a miss is good as a mile”. …
          Your kadamandiya people is just one single group of people.I don’t base the result on them alone. What about the so-called “artist” and “youth community”?

          • 2
            0

            Look how talented these young men and women are. Mlechcha politicians are standing in their way. If our racists do not stand in their way, how colorful will our nation be. – I most agree with the juror’s statement about how proud we can be as Sri Lankans.
            .
            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnIzM6jkNbU

          • 0
            3

            Dear LM: Thank you. You hate Rajapakses “again and again”.

            What is your assessment of those who “PROTECT” Rajapakses? Don’t you curse them more than Rajapakses?

      • 1
        0

        LLM,
        “The biggest problem is that whole lot of people in our region don’t seem to identify, ”shit heads ” from the others.”
        Our people are propelled by emotions than rationality, compared to westerners!!!
        Kisses to babies, 2 measures of Rice free per fortnight, matters most than scumbags stealing public money!!??? After all the SCUMBAGS are generous to appeal to the emotions – SL Rs 5000, ¼ Bottle of Arrack and Chicken Biryani on Election Day!!
        They would conveniently, overlook money and goodies were first robbed from their wealth!!?? DUMB INDEED!

  • 19
    3

    SL proudly claims to be a Buddhist country. Buddhism teaches compassion & tolerance, even a mass murderer, Angulimala, was pardoned by Buddha but we are now talking about reintroducing the death penalty. Aren’t we playing god? (that is, if you believe in god as a creator). What give us the right to take another person’s life? Isn’t ‘thou shall not kill’ also one of the Buddhist precepts? What hypocrisy.
    Slimy Sira pardoned convicted murderers, didn’t object to an alleged drug baron & convicted murderer sitting in Parliament. A thug in robes who openly threatened a witness in court had his jail sentence reduced but law abiding people like Dr Shafi, lawyer Hijaz, honest policemen like Shani Abeysekara, & countless others are stitched up, some rotting in jail for years without any charges brought against them, says a lot about our judicial system. When miscarriage of justice happens even in democratic countries, how many poor souls unable to defend themselves will be scapegoated in SL?
    Cont,

  • 9
    0

    Cont.
    Premadasa jnr. is portrayed as educated & cultured but I wonder if he would support the death penalty if there was a possibility of investigating his old man’s hand in political killings, including, that of Richard De Zoysa? GR is accused of war crimes, does that not deserve the death penalty if found guilty or it is ‘collateral’ & does not count? MR is accused of paying the LTTE & in times of war, it is considered as treason & the penalty is death. Would these allegations ever be investigated & sentenced accordingly if found guilty or is the death penalty only for the desperate sods pushing drugs in a street corner to make ends meet or critics rounded up under the PTA?

    • 7
      11

      Thank you for the sermon from the sin-free paradise that is sinking.

      • 9
        0

        SJ
        I have decided not to waste my time responding to your irrelevant comments but I thought for the last time to educate you on your perception of UK.
        UK is not perfect but probably paradise to thousands of illegal immigrant who risk their lives to come to UK in small boats. Cost of living is high but inflation is about a fifth of that is in SL, there is no death penalty & I trust the British justice system, the Police are held responsible, investigated for wrong doings & punished if necessary, there are usually no shortages but recently there have been a shortage of free range eggs but barn eggs are available, & tomatoes, due to crop failure in Morocco, the new supply source after Brexit & UK farmers not growing in green houses this winter due to high cost of heating & lack of farm workers, who were mainly Eastern European. As for the 6th biggest economy sinking, it is highly unlikely as Brits don’t go into action at the first sign of disaster with contingency plans in place, unlike watching helplessly in SL Liz Truss made disastrous decisions but was forced out only after 44 days as PM & the damage controlled.
        Cont.

        • 10
          0

          Cont.
          I take an interest in my country of birth because I always wanted to return after retirement & I am also concerned about the welfare of my friends & relatives. You have now convinced me that, apart from ‘attention seeking disorder’ (HPD), you certainly have a case of sour grapes as well but I will let the readers decide for themselves.

          • 5
            2

            Raj- UK , “sour grapes”, no kidding. This deadwood has never left his comfort zone (waterhole) ever. Living in a sinful paradise, unaware of hitting the bottom, taking pleasure in other’s pain/discomfort. Sounds familiar ??? Is this kind of thinking, any better or acceptable in a Buddhist Country ???

            • 3
              0

              chiv
              You said it. Hypocrisy is something I can’t stand & SL is full of Buddhist hypocrites. Worse are those, for some obscure reason, in denial. There are many with ‘frog in the well’ syndrome, which can be excused but when they make public statements with their half baked knowledge, indicates the level of rationality. A Buddhist monk who considered Hitler as a role model for GR is laughable. Obviously he was unaware that condoning Hitler is not only taboo but an offense in Germany. Most recent was an interpretation of Buddhism by a monk, whose name I believe is Siribadda, that everybody, including monks, should eat well, live comfortably & engage in lucrative business but in my understanding of Buddhism, monkhood means leaving behind the material life & Buddha preached the ‘middle path’ for the ley people. There is no problem with everybody expiring for a comfortable life but how many can achieve that, particularly, in SL now? Listening to his sermon, I thought he was encouraging materialism & an excuse for monks engaging in business, therefore, no wonder the average Buddhist in SL is confused & so gullible to accept this rubbish as wisdom.

              • 1
                0

                Apologise for the typing error. Should be aspiring, not expiring.

            • 2
              2

              One should be pretty desperate to clutch at any straw.
              BTW
              Did this piece of deadwood drift and drift and finally land on the shores of India?

        • 2
          4

          R-UK
          Have you for once asked yourself why they are leaving their homes in countries where lived for generations in peace?
          Why has there been a massive surge in refugees since the end of the Cold War?
          Answering these questions will educate you more than you seek to educate anyone here.
          *
          But do not lose heart about wishing the resurgence of the UK, although it is sunk as a world power and now only a client of the US. Hope is what keeps us going.
          *
          As I have said before, people who call others all manner of names are only seeing their own selves in others.

  • 8
    0

    If you consider the number of “Executions” that have been and are presently carried out by “Law Enforcement” (the Police) perhaps it would be evident that the power vested with the “Courts of Justice” has been “Devolved” to the “Police”. There was one case in evidence. A spokesman based abroad very correctly informed that within a matter of “24 hours”, a suspect in the custody of the Police named “Madush” would be executed. As informed, the Police did it by shooting him dead and reasoned to say: “Madush” was shot dead while on a mission to locate hidden arms”. There is one more to take place. Watch the following link:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KF1tCBQbYtk

    So don’t cry. The “Death Penalty” is in force and it will be carried out no matter what.

  • 5
    2

    In Srilanka it is not a rational proposition to reinstate the Death Penalty. There is a distinct possibility for an innocent man to get hanged because the Srilankan Judicial System is not infallible. The procurement of judges is not uncommon in Srilankan Courts.

    • 6
      0

      I agree – absolutely – for this and other reasons.
      I have written at various times about my stand on this – one brief article was “Bhutan and the Death Penalty” which appeared trilingually in the press.

      It is absolutely abhorrent and I suggest that those who recommend it, even only in certain instances, witness a few executions, hangings or whatever, themselves. Some of the most vociferous against the death penalty have been those who were forced to carry it out or witness it being carried out.

      The English hangman, Albert Pierrepoint, was one such. A film about him was made in 2008. He witnessed thousands of hangings in his life. In his autobiography (1974) he said: “…[hanging] is said to be a deterrent. I cannot agree….If death were a deterrent, I might be expected to know.”
      The rest is available in his Wikipedia entry.

  • 5
    3

    I have no problem with Jayampathi’s arguments except the case of proven SERIAL OFFENDERS
    I would suggest that established serial murderers, torturers, rapists and pedophiles should
    be executed for the protection of society.

    • 2
      2

      I reluctantly agree, Professor Kumar David.
      .
      So, this is to be done to protect innocent “would be victims” of the future.
      .
      There is no effort here to justify the death sentence in terms of what is “deserved” by the person who is executed. Retribution doesn’t enter into the argument.
      ..
      This is a purely defensive move.
      .
      Panini Edirisinhe (NIC 483111444V) of Bandarawela 10/03/2023

      • 2
        1

        I have thought again about this terrible subject, re-read the main article.
        .
        It may seem that I was almost sitting on the fence; no, we just shouldn’t cheapen life by allowing the State to execute people.
        .
        However, I feel that there are far too many flippant calls to execute all and sundry. And then, there are the de facto executions by the Police. Our society has to do a lot of thinking on this, and we really must re-set our entire society so as to root out all violence, from whatever quarter.
        .
        Before we get on to subjects of this sort, can we please have elections? I know that this is very much of a non-sequitur, but how do we improve our society in more positive ways?

    • 6
      0

      I believe that eeakdavi is Prof. Kumar David, an avowed humanist claiming to follow Samasamajist principles. Jayampathy’s argument is based on the weaknesses of the criminal justice system, even in the so-called developed countries. eeakdavi says he has no problem with Jayampathy’s argument. Then in the same sentence, he has an exception- for ‘proven’ serial killers. If the criminal justice system is frail, in that innocent persons can be convicted, then it applies to serial killers also. Jayampathy gives a good example from Russia, where a man was executed for allegedly being a serial killer and later found to be innocent. It is the ‘proven’ element that is the issue. We think it is ‘proven’ just because there is a conviction and then to find out that the accused is innocent. The frailties of the system apply to alleged serial murderers, torturers, rapists and pedophiles as well. eeakdavi speaks of ‘established’ serial killers etc. ‘Established’ by what? The same frail system of criminal justice.

    • 3
      0

      Dear Sensitive Readers,
      .
      If the people and their agents are more criminal than the other way around, I think we would be helpless.

      Isn’t that the case in today’s Srilanka?’

      Then how can any law-bound system punish them in the context of Sri Lanka?

    • 4
      1

      eeakdavi

      How could a person kill another person legally sanctioned or otherwise.
      How would anyone justify if there is a miscarriage of justice (many examples could be sited from American experience and history).
      Couldn’t this be used for ethnic cleansing. Kamala, Surgeon General, and others would use this as an excuse, justify every killing, ….

      Is there any evidence to support the idea (stupidity) that capital punishment acts as deterrent?

      If people (sadists) want to kill let them find other means of justifying killing siting deterrent is not a good idea.

      nimal fernando could help you in this matter.
      Like SJ, nimal is an admirer of Thiruvengadam Velupillai Prabaharan.
      In SJ’s case he is an admirer of Pol Pot, Abimael Guzmán, Mao, … no idea who else. He will stand by whom he supported.

      • 3
        2

        Not whom, but what.
        There is a subtle difference that will not demand much mental skill to recognize..

    • 2
      2

      Surely, they can be isolated from society under the law.
      Is no serial offender beyond reform and redemption?

    • 1
      0

      I agree with you
      If implemented many that we hold in high respect will face the music.
      And if you add drug lords and traitors to Sri Lanka another big chunk will follow.
      So many of our big men in high places will be guilty on multiple counts.
      The problem is that without a proper justice system in place none of the culprits will actually be sentenced. They will all wriggle their way out of the system that has been designed to help the rich and powerful and deal ruthlessly with the bottom of the food chain.

  • 1
    0

    The author has taken the trouble to pen an article of some length outlining various aspects of it. My thanks for the same. What is the goal of any punishment? Primarily to deter. But what is the use of punishing long after committing the crime? The element of deterrence fades. Long before the punishing the essential pre-requisites are the apprehension (that includes the gathering of proper evidence to merit a conviction) and conviction by a court of law. But alas! How long does Sri Lanka take to complete the first two steps? With lethargy and corruption, it is difficult to imagine as to how the challenge could be met. Another feature of punishment is rehabilitation of the offender such that he/she would never be an inmate of the state-hostel again. Although there has been some success in rehabilitation in Sri Lanka, yet this is an uphill task. With death as a punishment, rehabilitation is meaningless. Sajjaboy wants the noose. Like his pappa who perhaps believed in the tyre pyre, he thinks the political party he leads, is his private property. Human-Freedoms! Bullshit! He thinks that “SRP is SJB and SJB is SRP” Is it a streak of megalomania?

  • 5
    7

    I’m all for the Death-Penalty, burning-alive and then some ……. if the people who deserve the Death-Penalty gets hanged. ……. Not the two-bit minor criminals who always end up going to the gallows.

    Ranil, Mahinda, Sirisena, Gota, Basil, Namal, Dinesh, 225 + Sinhala_Man …….. publicly hung on the Galle Face Green lampposts a la Benito ………. And the citizens who they victimized, given a chance to “pay their last respects.”

    That’ll be a sight to behold …… A sight, dreams are made of!

    The pure, the pristine and the moral …….. reach for the stones.

    Time to take cover.

    • 4
      0

      Why me, nimal?
      .
      And shouldn’t you be saying “hanged”?
      .
      https://grammarist.com/usage/hanged-hung/
      .
      Panini Edirisinhe

      • 3
        0

        No one but the JVP guys will hang you using their previous tactics – so maybe that’s what NF is going to tip you off to.

      • 1
        0

        Does it matter if it’s hanged or hung ……. if they all end up dead and the country freed of low-life scum; currupt parasites?

        It’s not English/language the problem here. :))

    • 3
      0

      Nimal,
      “The pure, the pristine and the moral …….. reach for the stones.”
      There aren’t any, as you probably know. You’ll need about 12 million sets of gallows, and an equal number of hangmen. But then, who’s going to hang the hangmen?
      Yes, Sinhala Man would be among the hanged . Let him explain why.

      • 3
        1

        OC,
        :
        I think the Sinhala man (volunteer AKD spokesman) has all the necessary mechanisms to protect himself from being hanged as JVP is with him today.Instead, the Sinhalese man can kill me more easily on my next visit. His recent hate speech proved that to me. In his eyes, and no one else, I am his greatest enemy today.

        I heard today that ministers are questioning how the Janata Vimukthi Peramuna can go around the country to look for oil, which has become a big puzzle for me. Even underwear is offered to them by their friends like “Buddhagama Monk Community”.

        That in itself proves that JVP should have more resources than any other political group.

        • 2
          0

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Fe-cs2o3BQ

          The average Lankan would agree with this man in the video who follows the devil to explain any kind of health problem today. The very same man’s psychology challenges to learned Prof. Thero. I respect this monk among the few I know in SRILANKA. He makes every effort to save the nation from being dragged by Myths

          The man, may be a relative of Gotabaya, doesn’t seem to know what “research” is.

          iT also revealed that Sri Lanka’s print media is fooling the nation without a second thought.
          I wanted to share with you – this nation will not progress easily. Nor are they rational. They will easily imitate the other without questioning it twice.

      • 2
        0

        OC
        “Let him explain why.”
        Be fair.
        He only wants his hangman to be grammatically correct.

    • 1
      2

      nimal fernando

      …… and finally who is going to hang the hangman, I mean you?

      • 2
        1

        “who is going to hang the hangman”

        Native,

        Certainly not Ranil! ……… He knows very well who Lasantha’s, Thajudeen’s, Eknalligoda’s, ………. Hangman was: who passed their death-sentence.

        He is playing “silence in golden:” see no evil hear no evil.

        Like your silence about Ranil’s shenanigans.

        Everyone is playing games.

        Who are we trying to fool, Native?

        Ourselves? …….. Who else, eh?

  • 4
    1

    Not long ago, Ranil was the elected Chairman of a prominent world Democratic Organization! …… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4i2DRxyjms

    Native, …….. silence is golden, eh?

    Cynicism is the only way …… some take a direct beeline ……. others take every diversion along the way ………. to get there: if at all :))

  • 4
    2

    First and foremost the ” Thrividar Buddhism in Sri lanka has to revive “
    .
    Or two states in one country. We may have same colour but we are totally culturally different. There are so many examples in day to day life you can find.we ask the name of a person but you ask the surname …to start with.

    • 2
      2

      C
      What is ‘Thrividar Buddhism’?

  • 2
    0

    Introducing death penalty doesn’t solve any issues. Crime rates never decreased by introducing death penalty.

    • 2
      0

      L100
      I agree.
      The death penalty is one’s easy answer to a problem that one cannot answer.

    • 0
      2

      I don’t know, Lankan100, whether you can read or write, but seems to be very poor in math. 1975, just a few years after Somarama Thero was executed, it was felt enough and the reinstated death penalty was stopped. After freedom, until 1958, it was growing in arithmetic proportion, but isn’t it growing now in geomagnetic proportion? If you don’t do addition, deduction, that is simple things like arithmetic growths & de growths, how are you going to comprehend the crime growth rate in Langkang that is geometric progression? Tell me how many child rape, complete familly wipe out, wife killed for not cooking or talking to neighbour that you read in local daily news media? Don’t convulse to over interpret Sage Jayamthay’s inventions at this stage. He thinks his masters using the “LTTE Terrorist ” may not work well for the future elections. So he is trying to invent something in the opposite direction, i.e the Sinhala Buddhist are Angels so Buddha has told in his teaching that after 1975, no death penalty in Lankang, until he comes back in 2500 years review his lessons. The Communist Jayampathy may not have a grandchild so he needs not to rock the cradle, so in the CT. Don’t get too serious about that small problem. Just bless him soon to get somebody asking to rock their cradle at home.

  • 0
    2

    Evil Introduced a fake OMP to dodge the UNHRC Modayas. Saliya quit as soon as the Slap Party came to power. It is such a hopeless, money-wasting office. Evil, who devastated the students’ protests in Colombo, with murders, arson, water cannon, & PTA is now eying on the protest of Mothers of involuntarily missing persons. The Mothers took light power from the light post with the approval of NPC, for years. Now Evils has sent a Rapist Police team to chase them home. If the power can be issued under the authority of an NPC, what kind of authority does Evil have to send the Rapist Police from Colombo to investigate the Protest site’s electricity bill? Why is the CEB not collecting the bills from the politicians, whose details are released by RTI to the public? With dismantling NPC, the 13A to be dismantled?

    Can Northern- Eastern MPs talk about this in parliament? Can they organize a protest of public with a moto “CEB, Colect the monthly Bills from corrupt, Hora politician, Give free Electricity to Poor.”

  • 0
    2

    I am not sure what foundation laws stem from, and what principles they are based on, but they are for the people by the people. Death penalty deserves for the people who look forward to it, to those who call for it, those who vote for it & those who implement it. So let them all have it secured for them, good luck with it!

    Sinhala Buddhism has nothing to do with any laws. Buddhist Ayatollah & Bald Heads cannot have them exempted from the death penalty just because their men are the one making laws in Sri Lanka. I did not know if Buddha have had any debate on death penalty, but 2000 years ago, Ilango asked “Isn’t it killing the thief is the judgment process (Kalvanai Koral Kodumkoal Anre!)?”. In the modern, civilized world, law is still expected to be logical & secure. Punishment needs to be educative, corrective, aiding the committer to clear his/her life from crimes. Valaiththodam Jr agrees that his father’s death penalty was justified for all the murders he carried out and it was appropriate that the Sinhala Buddhists had celebrated the incident with Kiribath and firecrackers.

  • 0
    2

    was murdered by the monks, and there was a terrorism organized on Sirimavo’s life by the rapist Army, the patriotic Ranavirus, needing the penalty. All other times it was Forcefully imposed on the innocent civilians by the rowdies in the Dyawanne Lake drug cartels, rapists, looters & murderers. Those murderers are capable of escaping from the death penalty imposed by the imposed courts and come back to Dyavanne lake, like the recent heroes, Ratwatte, Silva, ………….There were 150,000 death penalties enforced by the Rapist Army on civilians in the north. The CommunistSage or Doctor Jeyampathy has not raised any points on that. Dr. Jayampathy, the Kaicooli of Evil Emperor who wrote the 19A to keep Evil as the PM forever, what kind of justification he has to talk about “right and wrong “in the other laws?

  • 3
    1

    In a country where the rulers maintain that Buddhism shall be given the utmost important (upon the teachings of Lord Buddha who is always famous for Dharma and non-violence), I think death penalty should be banned. Instead the civic rights of the accused can be stripped off to the extent that they cannot own property, through a Court of Law. However, the rulers also should prove that they are not instrumental for heinous crimes. Even if it is proved that the Police and the Armed Security forces are engaged in heinous crimes, their civic rights should be stripped off and owning properties by them should be banned. This is one way of preserving Human Rights and Democracy.

  • 3
    0

    Some years ago John Amaratunga (a devout Catholic) was all in favour of reinstating the death penalty. When it was suggested that in that case he should carry out the first execution, he demurred. It is very easy to talk about who should be hanged but it’s not easy to carry it out. Besides, it is no deterrent. Many US states have the death penalty but they still have a huge number of murders. I’m really pleased that the idiot Sirisena was unable to find a willing hangman. A glimmer of light in the darkness.

    • 1
      0

      Paul
      Execution is serious business– seemingly too serious to be discussed here.

      • 3
        2

        Paul

        SJ loves execution.
        He loves Mao’s China.
        Here is a lead news:
        How China became a notorious executioner with injections and firing squads
        https://nypost.com/2021/02/18/chinas-authoritarian-execution-system-spares-no-prisoner/

        • 0
          1

          Native, mechanical thinking Professor speaks with the forked tongue. He thinks, he is still in class room, giving lecture to those students, he claims to have “kept their knees in constant jerk for years”. When questioned, starts whining of victimization (abuse , poor me???? . . . .). Poor soul is now put through the same exercise at his home, day in and day out, desperately looking for a support group. Are there any in Lanka ?

  • 4
    0

    Readers
    Before we talk about the ultimate punishment or death penalty, I honestly think we should put our entire justice system in order.
    Right now our judicial system is in shambles. Judges, magistrates are influenced by the other arms of government. Not to mention how highly corrupt the entire court systems are.
    Police are without a doubt one of the most compromised institutions in SL today.
    Civil service too is completely off track with corruption infecting it to the core.
    How can we expect to change the system without having a proper justice system in place?
    It is like putting the wolf in charge of the chicken coop.
    We have to call a spade a spade and clean-up the justice system first.

    • 1
      0

      Dear HT and all sensitive commenters,
      .
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XrbbcOksBk

      Sepal’s guest explains it like no other. I respect this senior lawyer Namal Rajapaksa. He clearly explains that our judiciary is not independent even though the entire media keeps saying that our “court is independent”.

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