The chief incumbent of the Mihintale Rajamaha Viharaya has asked President Anura Kumara Dissanayake to grant a presidential pardon to Ven. Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara Thera, who is serving a prison sentence for contempt of court, Hiru News reported on Saturday.
Ven. Walawahengunawewe Dhammaratana Thera said a pardon order issued by former president Maithripala Sirisena had been mishandled by officials when it was executed, and that the resulting procedural defect was what left it open to challenge in court.
He asked the current President to use the powers vested in him to grant a fresh pardon, and said it should be done through proper procedure.
A signature campaign
Dhammaratana Thera said steps would be taken to collect signatures from the fourfold Buddhist community, including monks, as well as from various ethnic and religious groups, for submission to the Chief Prelates.
Photographs from the temple published by Hiru show monks and lay people signing petition sheets at tables set up on the temple grounds.
Background
The Supreme Court invalidated Gnanasara Thera’s 2019 pardon on 10 September, returning him to custody on the contempt sentence.
The Bodu Bala Sena general secretary called on senior monks to seek a fresh pardon on 21 September, arguing at a book launch in Colombo that he was being punished for errors made by officials rather than by himself. Saturday’s appeal is the first public response from a senior temple figure taking up that call.
He separately faces indictments in the Colombo High Court over remarks about Islam.
Not reported
Hiru does not give a target number of signatures, a timetable for the campaign, or say which Chief Prelates the petition will go to. No response from the President’s office or the government is reported, and no other verified newsroom we could reach had filed its own account of Saturday’s appeal — Ada Derana, which carried the story, remained blocked to us. This report is therefore single-sourced.
