{"id":95287,"date":"2013-07-13T10:23:56","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T04:53:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=95287"},"modified":"2013-07-13T20:47:16","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T15:17:16","slug":"another-church-attack-to-be-swept-under-carpet-hc-judge-pressures-church-attack-victims-to-settle-with-bbs-gnasara","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/another-church-attack-to-be-swept-under-carpet-hc-judge-pressures-church-attack-victims-to-settle-with-bbs-gnasara\/","title":{"rendered":"Another Church Attack To Be Swept Under Carpet – HC Judge Pressures Church Attack Victims To Settle With BBS Gnanasara"},"content":{"rendered":"

A criminal case filed after an attack on the morning of June 6, 2008 on a church (Malabe Calvary Christian Center) by a Buddhist fundamentalist mob including the Secretary to the Ministry of Defence of the Rajapaksa regime backed Bodu Bala Sena (BBS)\u00a0Secretary Galagoda-atte Gnanasara Thero was taken up recently in the Colombo High Court.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Galaboda-atte Gnasara Thero<\/p><\/div>\n

The way in which the case is progressing has caused serious concern at a seeming attempt to sweep the crimes of the mob under the carpet, when High Court judge Shiran Goonaratne urged the parties to arrive at a settlement of the case, which would prevent the possibility of a conviction of mob members, including the BBS<\/a><\/span> Secretary. This was after one Roshan Henricus, an eye-witness had stated in the court, that he identified Galagoda-atte Gnanasara<\/a><\/span> Thero and several others who were part of the extremist mob.<\/p>\n

The witness also gave evidence that Galagoda-atte Gnanasara Thero, who led a mob of around 700 people, claimed that he has destroyed 22 churches.\u00a0 The centre had been attacked and damaged.<\/p>\n

Judge Goonaratne urged the parties to settle, saying that it is better to settle this matter rather than to allow the case to proceed, since it is a case of a religious dispute and ordered the case to be taken up on August 1, 2013 for the matter to be settled. The lawyers for the State and the victims were advised by the judge that this case should be settled by then.<\/p>\n

The Bodu Bala Sena (BBS), is a Buddhist fundamentalist group that has been targeting minority (mainly Christian and Muslim) religious groups, on the basis that Sri Lanka is a \u2018Sinhala Buddhist country\u2019. The group receives State patronage through the powerful Defence Secretary (Gotabaya Rajapaksa<\/a><\/span>), who is the brother of President Mahinda Rajapaksa. The de facto Chief Justice Mohan Pieris<\/a><\/span> was the legal adviser to the Defence Secretary. Pieris\u2019 installation as de facto Chief Justice was made illegally with military force, amid protests from the legal profession and wide national and international condemnation. It is widely known that Pieris\u2019 selection for the \u2018job\u2019 was aided by the Defence Secretary\u2019s sponsorship. This connection between Pieris (a nominal Roman Catholic) and the regime has made it extra difficult for the system to serve justice to religious minorities.<\/p>\n

Another attack by the BBS on Fashion Bug<\/a><\/span> (a Muslim owned fashion and clothes business) of which Colombo Telegraph even published video footage was also hushed up, with great pressure being applied on the owner by the Rajapaksa regime. On that occasion it was Minister Faizer Musthapha (a nominal Muslim) who was sent by President Rajapaksa to personally pressure the owner, threatening that unless the case is settled, he would not be able to do any business in the country. The case was quickly settled and swept under the carpet without a single conviction despite all the evidence.<\/p>\n

Issuing a press statement on\u00a0Fashion Bug\u00a0attack settlement, Lal Wijenayake, \u00a0the\u00a0Convener of the Lawyers for Democracy said \u00a0“It is beyond our comprehension as to how the case was settled on the 1st<\/sup>\u00a0day itself even before a proper plaint in respect of the offenses committed were filed.\u00a0 The offences committed by the attackers amounted to their being members of an unlawful assembly with the object of committing robbery, mischief, hurt, criminal trespass and many other criminal offences.\u00a0 This is fundamentally a violation of the basic principles of criminal procedure and is an attempt to cover-up a serious incident that has to be not only condemned but dealt with under our law. The outcome of this incident speaks the whole story as to who is behind these incidents and who are the protectors of criminals involved in bringing fear into the lives of innocent citizens and enjoying for themselves the patronage and protection which only the state can provide. \u00a0This incident is a clear demonstration of the pathetic state of the rule of law in our country and the state of human rights in practice.\u00a0 This whole episode no doubt will disturb the conscience of all law abiding citizens of this country. ”<\/p>\n

The Colombo Telegraph is also able to report that there have also been instances of violent attacks on Christian groups\/places in the south of Sri Lanka, led by Thusitha Ranawaka, a close relative of President Rajapaksa which never resulted in any prosecution or conviction of the perpetrators. The Colombo Telegraph is reliably informed that he and his extremist allies had openly vowed to shut down Christian churches from functioning in the south.<\/p>\n

The advice of Judge Goonaratne comes, at a time when hundreds of religious places of Muslims and Christians have been attacked by BBS with total impunity. A highly placed source told Colombo Telegraph on condition of anonymity, that If this case is settled as urged by the judge, it would do little to inspire confidence in religious minorities that the judiciary will protect their rights despite pressures from the ruling regime.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[…]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":80206,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,1,2375],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-95287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-news","category-stories"],"yoast_head":"\nAnother Church Attack To Be Swept Under Carpet - HC Judge Pressures Church Attack Victims To Settle With BBS Gnanasara - Colombo Telegraph<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/another-church-attack-to-be-swept-under-carpet-hc-judge-pressures-church-attack-victims-to-settle-with-bbs-gnasara\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Another Church Attack To Be Swept Under Carpet - 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