Indictments were served at the Colombo High Court on Thursday against Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) general secretary Galagodaaththe Gnanasara Thera over remarks he made which authorities said were insulting to Islam. The court ordered his release on bail following the service of the indictments, The Island reported on Friday.
The specific charges and the date of the alleged remarks were not detailed in the initial filing notice. The Attorney General’s Department pursues prosecutions in High Court cases involving incitement and offences against communal harmony.
Gnanasara Thera is the founding general secretary of the BBS, a Sinhalese Buddhist nationalist organisation that has been at the centre of multiple legal proceedings since 2014. He served part of a six-year sentence for contempt of court before receiving a presidential pardon in 2019, and was later convicted in 2022 of inciting religious hatred — a conviction for which he received another pardon.
The fresh High Court indictments come amid a broader pattern of accountability cases against political and religious figures, including a Court of Appeal challenge to the mass deportation of 126 Chinese nationals and ongoing prosecutions in the Easter bombing conspiracy case.
Sources: Newswire, The Island.
