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Monk remanded for perjury

by Indeewara Thilakarathne

Colombo High Court Judge Sarath Ambepitiya yesterday ordered the remand of a Buddhist monk for perjury.

In this case 21 persons including Minister Rajitha Senaratne were accused of abducting, threatening and conspiring to kill Jayantha Silva and Lin Hughin Hui, executives of the Prima Ceylon Ltd. in Rajagiriya between November 15, 1994 and December 4 at Rajagiriya.

Balapitiye Ratnasiri Thera of Amara Viharaya in Rajagiriya,the 39th witness, was found guilty of lying under oath when he failed to recollect the name of the CID officer who took down his statement on the incident.

It later transpired that R. L. Chandrasiri, the CID officer concerned who took down his statement was an adviser to the Dayaka Sabhava. Later the witness admitted that he had seen the said officer in Court.

State Counsel Priyantha Navana in an application stated that the witness testimony was full of contradictions and inconsistencies. He said though it is possible to contradict a testimony on various grounds and this alone will not be sufficient in arriving at an opinion that the witness lied under oath.

He said that the particular witness had on more than one occasion tried to suppress facts and changed the course of his evidence from time to time. He said that the witness had undermined the authority of the Court and this act tantamounted to Contempt of Court.

He sought the permission of the Court to declare this witness as an adverse witness and urged that the witness be remanded till the end of the case.

Accordingly, the Judge declared the monk as an adverse witness and ordered him to be remanded till the end of the case. State Counsel Priyantha Navana and Navaratna Marasinghe appeared for the prosecution.

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