Tamil civil society groups seek Presidential pardon for Sathya
In recent months, Tamil detainees who were held in detention under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) for years without being charged or those who were already convicted were released after either fast-tracking their cases to conclude them or under a Presidential pardon.
Moves are underway by Tamil civil society groups to secure such a Presidential pardon for one such case where a female detainee was released by the Colombo High Court earlier, but later handed a death sentence by the Court of Appeal following an appeal filed by the Attorney General (AG) over her role in an assassination attempt on Cabinet Minister and Eelam Peoples’ Democratic Party (EPDP) Leader Douglas Devananda in his office near the Kollupitiya police station in 2004.
Though Minister Devanada survived the attack when the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) suicide bomber detonated herself killing four people, Selvakumar Sathyaleela alias Sathya was taken into custody and was prosecuted for her role in aiding the suicide bomber.
The mother of two was released by the Colombo High Court after nearly 14 years in detention with a two-year jail term suspended for fifteen years and a fine of Rs 25,000. However, the AG appealed against the verdict at the Court of Appeal and the court reversed the High Court order and convicted the suspect by sentencing her to death on January 23.
Writing a letter to the President seeking a Presidential pardon, she pleaded for an amnesty considering her plight and her inability to hire a counsel to represent her in the case. She said even Minister Devananda told the Court of Appeal that he had no objections to her release from the case.
In this background, a Northern-based civil society group handed in a petition to the President through the Northern Province Governor’s office this week seeking a Presidential pardon for the woman.