{"id":70267,"date":"2020-09-12T04:01:22","date_gmt":"2020-09-12T09:01:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=70267"},"modified":"2020-09-12T04:01:22","modified_gmt":"2020-09-12T09:01:22","slug":"i-know-in-my-heart-that-i-am-innocent-says-murder-convicted-premalal-jayasekara-while-addressing-parliament-in-a-voice-shaking-with-emotion-requests-new-investigation-and-tria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=70267","title":{"rendered":"\u201cI know in my heart that I am innocent,\u201d Says Murder Convicted Premalal Jayasekara While Addressing Parliament in a voice shaking with emotion; requests new investigation and trial as he had been framed he says"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Maria Abi-Habib<\/strong><\/p>\n

A Sri Lankan politician sentenced to death on murder charges was sworn in as a member of the country\u2019s Parliament on Tuesday, escorted out of prison to take his oath amid jeers from opposition legislators.<\/p>\n

The lawmaker, Premalal Jayasekara, was convicted in late July of opening fire on an election rally in 2015, killing an opposition activist. But the conviction and death sentence were handed down just days after Mr. Jayasekara had filed papers to run for re-election. Then his party swept to victory.
\nThe decision to allow Mr. Jayasekara to conduct his parliamentary duties as a member of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna party is the latest episode to unnerve opposition politicians and activists since Gotabaya Rajapaksa won the presidential election last November.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The president is part of the Rajapaksa political dynasty, which is mired in scandal, accused of numerous human rights abuses and corruption charges when it ruled Sri Lanka from 2005 until 2015. The family has dismissed the accusations as false, and part of a political campaign to discredit them.<\/p>\n

During the family\u2019s last stint in power, Mr. Rajapaksa served as defense secretary and his brother, Mahinda, was the president. Their government was accused of war crimes rising out of the final offensives against Tamil Tiger rebels, in which the United Nations estimates that as many as 40,000 civilians were killed. It was also accused of extrajudicial killings and the persecution of journalists, activists and political opponents.<\/p>\n

But to their supporters, the Rajapaksas are war heroes who defeated a ruthless insurgency and ended their country\u2019s bloody civil war, which lasted 26 years. When Gotabaya Rajapaksa won the presidential elections last fall, he promptly appointed his brother as prime minister.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, as Mr. Jayasekara walked on to the legislature\u2019s floor for his swearing-in ceremony, opposition parliamentarians wore black shawls to mark the death for which he was convicted.<\/p>\n

\u201cShame!\u201d they chanted.<\/p>\n

A member of the ruling party offered a different view.<\/p>\n

\u201cVictory!\u201d he declared.<\/p>\n

The opposition walked out of the chamber in protest as Mr. Jayasekara was sworn in.<\/p>\n

Addressing Parliament in a voice that shook with emotion, he said he had been framed and requested a new investigation and trial.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know in my heart that I am innocent,\u201d Mr. Jayasekara said.<\/p>\n

He charged that the political opposition had framed him for the 2015 killing, as part of a larger plot to discredit him and his colleagues.
\nOpposition members pushed back.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe intention of our protest today was that convicted murderer who was sworn in by the speaker, which we found unacceptable,\u201d said Eran Wickramaratne, a member of an opposition party, the Samagi Jana Balawegaya.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was convicted \u2014 he has appealed, but he was convicted,\u201d Mr. Wickramaratne said.<\/p>\n

Mr. Jayasekara was barred by the court from attending Parliament\u2019s first session, on Aug. 20. But he filed a petition in the Court of Appeal for permission to attend Parliament and represent his district, the southern city of Ratnapura. Mr. Jayasekara has represented Ratnapura in Parliament since 2001.<\/p>\n

The Court of Appeal ruled that despite his conviction, Mr. Jayasekara retained his rights as an elected lawmaker. It suggested that the speaker of Parliament decide whether to let him attend legislative sessions and cast his vote.<\/p>\n

The speaker, also a member of the ruling party, ruled in favor of allowing Mr. Jayasekara to attend. Now, he will be escorted from prison every time the legislature meets.<\/p>\n

Namal Rajapaksa, the minister of sports and the son of Sri Lanka\u2019s prime minister, expressed his support for Mr. Jayasekara\u2019s presence.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn allowing Hon. Premalal Jayasekera to take oaths and attend #parliament the speaker of the house has not violated the Constitution,\u201d Mr. Namal tweeted. \u201cThe decision was made in keeping with the judgment given by the court of appeal a few days ago.\u201d<\/p>\n

Courtesy:New York Times<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Tweet<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Maria Abi-Habib A Sri Lankan politician sentenced to death on murder charges was sworn in as a member of the country\u2019s Parliament on Tuesday, escorted out of prison to take his oath amid jeers from opposition legislators. The lawmaker, Premalal Jayasekara, was convicted in late July of opening fire on an election rally in …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘\u201cI know in my heart that I am innocent,\u201d Says Murder Convicted Premalal Jayasekara While Addressing Parliament in a voice shaking with emotion; requests new investigation and trial as he had been framed he says’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70267"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=70267"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70267\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":70268,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70267\/revisions\/70268"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=70267"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=70267"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=70267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}