Minister of Justice, Prison Affairs and Constitutional Reforms, Dr. Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe said legal instructions to grant a Presidential pardon to former SJB Parliamentarian and State Minister Ranjan Ramanayake who is serving a four-year sentence of rigorous imprisonment for contempt of court will be given by the Attorney General within the next few days.
The actor-turned-politician was sentenced to four years’ rigorous imprisonment by the Supreme Court on January 12, 2021, on contempt of court charges, in connection with disparaging remarks he had made about the judiciary in August 2017.
President Ranil Wickremesinghe had called upon the Justice Minister to explore the possibility of granting a Presidential pardon to Ramanayake. Accordingly, Minister Rajapakshe had asked for a confidential report from the Commissioner General of Prisons on that matter.
Consequently, the report was received and it has now been presented to the Attorney General (AG) asking for legal advice to seek the possibility of granting a Presidential pardon to Ramanayake. “Therefore, I will receive legal advice from the Attorney General soon with regard to this matter,” the Minister told the Sunday Observer.