Former Minister and Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna head of operations Johnston Fernando has alleged that the government is using legal action to target its opponents, and that certain officials are abusing the law and fabricating evidence to do it.
He was speaking to journalists near the Fort Magistrate’s Court on Thursday, the Daily Mirror reported.
These are allegations by an opposition politician. No evidence for them was presented, and no official or institution named in them has responded.
What he said
“We expected things like this. Remanding and imprisoning those who oppose or challenge the government is this administration’s policy,” Fernando said.
He claimed that individuals who obtain bail are then met with newly filed cases. “This is nothing new,” he said.
He argued the government is using prosecutions as publicity because it has nothing else to show. “They have no news to share about building roads or bridges. They have no news about constructing a port or an airport. So, the only news they have is about remanding people,” he said — adding, in Hiru News’s account, that the administration also lacks achievements in bringing down commodity prices.
The distinction he drew
Fernando was careful to separate the courts from the officials who bring cases to them.
“We have never had a conflict with the courts. The problem lies with certain officials,” he said, stressing that he has confidence in the judiciary and in an independent judicial system.
Hiru reported him putting the point more sharply: that courts are left powerless when they are presented with false evidence, and that a select group of officials carries this out to advance the administration’s political agenda.
He also criticised political interference in law enforcement. “The country has laws, and the relevant legal authorities enforce them — not politicians,” he said, arguing independent institutions should be allowed to function independently.
Where the SLPP goes next
Fernando said the party’s next rally will be held in Matara, and that it would continue its political activities despite what he described as government pressure.
The context he was standing in
Fernando made the remarks outside the court complex where several cases involving SLPP figures are being heard. He is himself a defendant in multiple prosecutions: he was granted bail in the Sathosa lorry and ethanol case after four months in remand, granted bail in the Polgolla chairs case in September, and the Court of Appeal addressed his CWE trial in August.
The Fort Magistrate’s Court has also been the venue for the money-laundering case in which Namal Rajapaksa was granted bail on 30 September — one day before these remarks.
Not reported
Neither outlet names the officials Fernando accused, identifies which cases he says involved fabricated evidence, or carries a response from the Attorney General’s Department, the police, the Bribery Commission or the government. Neither gives a date for the Matara rally.
