Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara Thero was not at his temple in Rajagiriya when prison officials visited the premises on Saturday (12) to take steps following the Supreme Court’s decision to nullify the presidential pardon granted to him, police sources said.
Officials who visited the temple on Nawala Road were reportedly informed by those present that they were unaware of the Thero’s whereabouts.
The development came two days after the Supreme Court declared the pardon granted to Gnanasara Thero by former President Maithripala Sirisena in 2019 null and void.
The three-member bench comprising Justices Janak De Silva, Dr. Sobhitha Rajakaruna, and Sampath B. Abayakoon held that the pardon was arbitrary, violated public trust and the principles of natural justice, and exceeded the proper exercise of the President’s constitutional discretion.
The case stemmed from Gnanasara Thero’s conduct at the Homagama Magistrate’s Court in January 2016 during proceedings relating to the disappearance of journalist and political cartoonist Prageeth Eknaligoda.
In 2018, the Court of Appeal convicted him on four counts of contempt of court and imposed concurrent prison terms amounting to six years. He had served approximately nine months when Sirisena granted him a presidential pardon on 23 May 2019.
The Supreme Court ruled that although Article 34 of the Constitution empowers the President to grant pardons, the power is held in trust for the people and remains subject to constitutional limitations and judicial review.
The Court found that Sirisena had effectively acted on the recommendation of the Additional Secretary (Legal), without demonstrating that he had independently considered the relevant material. It consequently ruled that the decision had violated the right to equality guaranteed under Article 12(1) of the Constitution.
The ruling restored the legal effect of Gnanasara Thero’s original conviction and sentence, leaving the implementation of the remaining sentence to the relevant authorities. The Court also clarified that a pardon does not erase a conviction or sentence, but merely relieves an offender from serving it to the extent specified.
Sandhya Eknaligoda, the wife of Prageeth Eknaligoda, was among those who challenged the pardon, alongside the Centre for Policy Alternatives and its Executive Director Dr. Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu.
Police sources said the Court had not permanently ruled out executive clemency, observing that a future President could grant Gnanasara Thero another pardon if the power were exercised lawfully and after due consideration of all relevant material.
This was the latest in a series of presidential pardons overturned by the Supreme Court. In January 2024, the Court invalidated former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s pardon of former MP Duminda Silva. In June 2024, it overturned two pardons granted by Sirisena to Royal Park murder convict Jude Shramantha Anthony Jayamaha, who remains at large.
