{"id":198140,"date":"2019-01-22T20:27:31","date_gmt":"2019-01-22T14:57:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=198140"},"modified":"2019-01-23T15:02:32","modified_gmt":"2019-01-23T09:32:32","slug":"hirunika-makes-fiery-speech-in-parliament-severely-criticises-sirisena-for-attempting-to-grant-presidential-pardon-to-duminda-silva","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/hirunika-makes-fiery-speech-in-parliament-severely-criticises-sirisena-for-attempting-to-grant-presidential-pardon-to-duminda-silva\/","title":{"rendered":"Hirunika Makes Fiery Speech In Parliament: Severely Criticises Sirisena For Attempting To Grant Presidential Pardon To Duminda Silva"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>UNP Parliamentarian <a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Hirunika+Premachandra\">Hirunika Premachandra<\/a> made a fiery speech in Parliament today severely criticising President Maithripala Sirisena over his alleged attempts to grant a presidential pardon to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Duminda+Silva\"><strong>Duminda Silva<\/strong><\/a> who is convicted of Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra&#8217;s murder.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Hirunika1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-154861\" src=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Hirunika1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"290\" height=\"341\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Hirunika1.jpg 290w, https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Hirunika1-255x300.jpg 255w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 290px) 100vw, 290px\" \/><\/a>Premachandra said Silva&#8217;s supporters were signing public letters in the Kolonnawa area requesting a pardon for the former MP. &#8220;They had told the people in the area that they were signing the letter on the advice of the President. I this because they have even visited the houses of my father&#8217;s former supporters. I cannot say Silva&#8217;s supporters are lying about the President&#8217;s advice, as I am not privy to the discussions between President Sirisena and Duminda Silva&#8217;s brother.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The Parliamentarian also said there was no reason to believe that the same President who architected the constitutional coup on October 26 would not grant a presidential pardon to a man convicted of a heinous murder.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We have seen how other Presidents lost their popularity during their second terms. But this President, unfortunately, has lost his public support even before the end of his first term. I am ashamed of the sacrifices I made to bring him to power in 2015,&#8221; Premachandra added.<\/p>\n<p>She also stated that the recommendation of the Justice Minister and the Attorney General should be obtained before granting Presidential pardon to a prisoner under usual circumstances. &#8220;I am convinced that the Justice Minister of ours cannot be bought over. She will act according to her conscience.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>If Presidential pardon is granted to Duminda Silva, Premachandra said, other prisoners serving sentences for serious crimes will also seek similar redresses from the President. &#8220;How can the President reject their requests after granting presidential pardon to Duminda Silva?&#8221; the Parliamentarian asked in Parliament today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":155182,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,2186,1,2375],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-198140","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-featured-news","category-news","category-stories"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.3 - 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