Asian Human Rights Commission release

The Asian Human Rights Commission in a Press release issued states that the imprisonment of four years is a gross violation of the established legal rules based in the common law tradition and under international law   The Press release further states thus “On 12 January 2021, a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka found S. V. R. P. P. A. R. L. S. Alphonsu, known also as Ranjan Ramanayake, as guilty of having committed the offence of contempt of court and sentenced him to four years of rigorous imprisonment. The accused is presently a Member of Parliament, formerly a deputy minister, and is also a well-known actor.   The reason for the charge and the conviction was an interview that was broadcast in 2017 with some words to the effect that the “‘Majority in Sri Lanka are corrupted judges, corrupted lawyers. They work for money’”.   At this stage, we do not wish to go into the merits of the judgement. However, on the basis of the norms and standards established by the ICCPR and its Optional Protocol, the sentence of 4 years imprisonment for contempt of the court is a gross violation of the established legal rules based in the common law tradition and under international law.   On 31st March 2005, the United Nations Human Rights Committee expressed its view on communication made to it by a Sri Lankan citizen Anthony Michael Emmanuel Fernando (Tony Fernando) (Anthony Fernando v. Sri Lanka, Communication No. 1189/2003,   U.N. Doc. CCPR/C/83/D/1189/2003 (2005)) who was found guilty for contempt of court and was sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for 1 year. After the matter was inquired into by the UN Human Rights Committee, it was held that whatever be the merits of the case, the sentence of one year is a violation of ICCPR and optional protocol to which Sri Lanka Is a siginitory”