A group of nine former Members of Parliament has written to President Anura Kumara Dissanayake under the title “Let us ensure the rule of law,” calling on him to ensure that detained former State Intelligence Service chief Major General (Retd.) Suresh Sallay is treated as an ordinary suspect under the principle of equality before the law.

The letter was prompted by what the signatories describe as the “emerging public discourse” over the alleged mistreatment of Sallay, who is currently in police custody on Easter Sunday attack conspiracy charges. The former MPs urge the President to “review all facts in a balanced manner” before acting.

The signatories warn that “incidents from a violent past, including the killing of individuals in custody — such as the assassination of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna founder Rohana Wijeweera while in custody and the subsequent handling of his remains — should not be repeated in a democratic state,” Ada Derana reported. The reference to Wijeweera explicitly invokes one of Sri Lanka’s most controversial custodial deaths, drawing a direct parallel between past state conduct and current concerns.

The letter was submitted by former MPs Dullas Alahapperuma, Attorney-at-Law Dilan Perera, D.B. Herath, Dr. Gunapala Rathnasekera, Karu Kodithuwakku, Dr. Thilak Rajapaksha, Dr. Upul Galappaththi, Lalith Ellawala, and K.P.S. Kumarasiri — a cross-party group that draws several signatories from the former SLPP camp now operating outside parliament.

The intervention opens a third major non-state appeal channel on the Sallay file in two days, alongside the Asgiri Chief Prelate Warakagoda Sri Gnanarathana Thero’s letter to the President on Friday and the Communist Party’s call for a PTA review. Sallay was admitted to the National Hospital in Colombo from CID custody on June 7 after a self-declared fast-unto-death, and his family said on Friday his condition was deteriorating “day by day.”

The Easter Sunday prosecution against Sallay continues at the Colombo Fort Magistrate’s Court, where the Attorney General has named him the “mastermind and contractor” of the 2019 bombings. The UNP separately demanded a parliamentary review of his custody conditions earlier this week.

Source: Ada Derana.