The Badulla High Court has granted bail to Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) parliamentarian Chaminda Wijesiri, four weeks after the same court jailed him for one and a half years over a 2019 confrontation with two police officers.
The court released the MP after considering his appeal against the conviction and sentence, Ada Derana and Daily Mirror reported. Hiru News, which described Wijesiri as having been serving the 18-month term, added that the court barred him from travelling abroad without its prior permission.
What the case was about
The Badulla High Court sentenced Wijesiri on July 28 after finding him guilty on charges including wrongful restraint, assault, causing injuries, issuing death threats and causing bodily harm to two police officers.
The case was filed against the MP, his driver Bandula Rathnayake and an officer attached to the Ministerial Security Division (MSD). The court had earlier convicted Wijesiri and Rathnayake on four charges and MSD officer Rasika Karunathilaka on three. Rathnayake has since died, the court was informed during proceedings.
According to the prosecution, the incident took place near the Bandarawela town roundabout on or around February 10, 2019, after a police jeep overtook the vehicle in which Wijesiri and his group were travelling. The prosecution alleged that the group then obstructed the jeep, issued death threats to the officers inside and assaulted them, causing injuries.
An open question now answered
Our report on the July sentencing noted that neither newsroom had said whether the MP would be granted bail pending an appeal. Monday’s ruling answers that: the sentence stands as a conviction under appeal, and Wijesiri is at liberty subject to the travel restriction while that appeal proceeds.
None of the three newsrooms reported when the appeal will be taken up, the conditions or value of the bail, or what the ruling means for the Badulla District MP’s parliamentary seat.
