Sri Lanka Court Remands Buddhist Monk After Reversal of Presidential Pardon

Colombo: A Sri Lankan court on Sunday remanded Buddhist monk Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara following his arrest after weeks in hiding, nearly a month after the Supreme Court overturned his presidential pardon. Gnanasara, a prominent Sinhala-Buddhist nationalist figure and leader of Bodu Bala Sena or Forces of Buddhist Power, was presented before Colombo Magistrate's Court after his arrest on Saturday night.

He was evading authorities since September, when the apex court ruled that his 2019 pardon was unlawful.

In 2018, the monk was convicted of contempt of court and criminal intimidation against Sandya Eknaligoda, the wife of political cartoonist Prageeth Eknaligoda, who disappeared in 2010.

Former president Maithripala Sirisena pardoned Gnanasara in May 2019, freeing him before he had completed the prison term. The decision was subsequently challenged before the Supreme Court.

On September 10, the Supreme Court reversed the pardon granted to Gnanasara, effectively restoring his original sentence and requiring him to serve the remainder of the six-year jail term handed down by the Court of Appeal over seven years ago.

Officials said Gnanasara would appear before the Court of Appeal on October 5 in connection with an arrest order issued by the court.

Gnanasara has become one of Sri Lanka's most prominent figures associated with hardline Sinhala-Buddhist nationalism.

His organisation, Bodu Bala Sena, has been accused of leading campaigns that target the country's Muslim minority. Meanwhile, Gnanasara himself has faced numerous other court cases and holds prior convictions that carried suspended sentences.