Sri Lanka, Oct 05 : A Sri Lankan court on Sunday remanded Buddhist monk Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara after authorities arrested him following several weeks in hiding, weeks after the Supreme Court overturned a presidential pardon that had allowed him to avoid serving the remainder of his prison sentence.
Gnanasara, a prominent Sinhala-Buddhist nationalist figure and leader of the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS), was produced before the Colombo Magistrate’s Court after being taken into custody on Saturday night.
The monk had been avoiding arrest since September, when the Supreme Court ruled that the presidential pardon granted to him in 2019 was unlawful.
Gnanasara was convicted in 2018 for contempt of court and criminal intimidation involving Sandya Eknaligoda, the wife of missing political cartoonist and journalist Prageeth Eknaligoda, who disappeared in 2010.
Former President Maithripala Sirisena granted the monk a pardon in May 2019, resulting in his release before he had completed his sentence. The decision was later challenged before the Supreme Court.
On September 10, the apex court overturned the pardon, effectively reinstating Gnanasara’s original sentence. The ruling requires him to serve the remaining portion of a six-year prison term imposed by the Court of Appeal more than seven years ago.
Officials said Gnanasara is scheduled to appear before the Court of Appeal on October 5 in connection with an arrest order issued by the court.
The monk has been a prominent figure in Sri Lanka’s Sinhala-Buddhist nationalist movement. His organisation, Bodu Bala Sena, has faced accusations of conducting campaigns against the country’s Muslim minority.
Gnanasara has also been involved in several other legal cases and has previous convictions carrying suspended sentences.