In a move to secure franchise rights for unconvicted prisoners the Committee for Protecting the Rights of Prisoners (CPRP) has written to the Justice Minister and the Chairman, Elections Commission to consider the possibility of providing voting rights for unconvicted prisoners.
At present about 14,000 unconvicted prisoners are housed in prisons across the island, and the country lacks a proper mechanism to allow them to cast their votes.
In a letter addressed to the Justice Minister Thalatha Atukorale and Chairman of Elections Commission Mahinda Deshapriya, on Wednesday (17), the CPRP requested relevant measures be taken to give this group the due opportunity to cast their votes.
Deshapriya said a decision regarding the request would be taken after the Commission’s discussions.
The Rights group also cited Section 13 (5) of the Constitution where a suspect is ‘considered innocent unless proven guilty.’
“There are two groups of prisoners in the Sri Lankan prisons. One is the convicted, and the other a considerable proportion that are held in remand. Under Section 13 (5) the latter has all the rights as any citizen in the country,” Chairman of the Committee, Attorney-at-Law Senaka Perera said. He added that under Section 89 of the Constitution suspects held in remand have the right to vote unless they are convicted, but that Sri Lanka lacked a practical procedure to create an environment for them to vote.