14 February 2025
Anura B. Meddegoda, P.C.,
President,
Bar Association of Sri Lanka,
No. 153, Mihindu Mawatha,
Colombo 12,
Sri Lanka
Dear Mr. Meddegoda,
Re: Your objections to the review of decisions of the Attorney General
I was saddened to read your letter dated February 7, 2025, issuing a veiled threat to the President of Sri Lanka for courageous steps taken by his government to defend the rights of victims of crime and to protect the integrity of our criminal justice system.
You sat for an interview with the Daily Mirror on October 11, 2024, and stated that the Bar Association was “at the forefront” of standing up for human rights. You specifically referenced the assassination of my father, Lasantha Wickrematunge:
“Most recently, the issue of one of the journalists, Mr. Lasantha Wickremetunga, in 2009 or 2010. He was also a member of the bar, so we were kind of, we had to look after, you know.”
Indeed, my father was a lifetime member of the Bar Association until his life was ended in the most widely condemned state-sponsored assassination in Sri Lanka on January 8, 2009. He was a loving father, husband, son, and uncle. His newspapers were read worldwide. Yet you did not utter a single word about him or the need to do him justice, even sixteen years after he was bludgeoned to death while driving to work.
Your decision to protest the alleged undermining of the independence of the office of the Attorney General when it comes to a flagrant abuse of his power in my father’s case is rich in hypocrisy. You and the Bar Association clearly had a different standard when it came to the interests of one of your clients.
You represent the interests of the family of the late Mahesh Indika Prabath, who was killed on October 12, 2022, shortly after his arrest by the police Special Task Force (STF). The Balapitiya magistrate ruled that your client was murdered and ordered a police investigation into the events, under Balapitiya Magistrates Court Case No. AR 2049/2022. In this matter, like my father’s investigation, despite a mountain of evidence, the Attorney General decided on August 27, 2024, not to pursue charges against the STF officer who allegedly executed your client in cold blood.
You personally protested this decision vigorously and publicly. Your client, the wife of the deceased, on your advice, wrote to the President on October 21, 2024, pleading for government assistance to review the Attorney General’s decision, just as I wrote to the government for the same reason. President Dissanayake in this case too, called for the Attorney General to explain his decision.
Why is it that when the Attorney General sabotaged a murder investigation into one of your clients, you call it “obstruction of justice,” seek executive review, and the Bar Association kept silent when you received it? Why is it that when that same Attorney General sought to intervene in and unravel the investigation into one of the most critical limbs of my father’s murder investigation, and I sought executive support to save the investigations, that you and the Bar Association suddenly sprint into action in his defense?
If your interest or that of the BASL is indeed in protecting the integrity of the justice system and the rule of law, you must address the elephant in the room. Under this Attorney General, a pattern has emerged of abusing the office and effectively sabotaging or terminating criminal proceedings into state-sponsored killings.
Your letter to the President, in defense of Attorney General Parinda Ranasinghe, insists that prosecutorial decisions must be free of political interference. I agree. However, my family has never demanded any specific indictments. We have only asked for a fair, thorough, and impartial investigation into my father’s murder. The Attorney General’s role is not to decide guilt or innocence but to ensure justice is served through due process.
Mr. Parinda Ranasinghe has clearly failed in his duty in my father’s case. He ignored crucial investigative material and relied on outdated files compiled under a corrupt regime. Furthermore, he did not consider further investigations that could support a prosecution, thereby terminating proceedings prematurely.
The evidence against key suspects in my father’s murder is substantial, including police records that were deliberately destroyed and altered. Yet, instead of advising investigators on collecting more evidence, the Attorney General shut the case down.
That is why I have called for his impeachment. His failure was not an oversight but a deliberate act of obstruction. His continued refusal to acknowledge the evidence proves that his priority is protecting his own reputation rather than upholding the law.
I strongly urge the BASL to recognize the gravity of this issue and support my call for the Attorney General’s impeachment. This is not just about my father. It is about all victims of state-sanctioned injustice, including your own client and the victims of the Mahara prison massacre. Sri Lanka deserves an Attorney General who will restore faith in the rule of law, not one who sabotages justice.
Yours sincerely
Ahimsa Wickrematunge
cc. Hon. Prime Minister
cc. Hon.Minister of Justice
cc. Leader of the Opposition