Gnanasara pardon row intensifies as monks continue protest
A group of Buddhist monks continued their protest at a public park in Colombo on Saturday, demanding a presidential pardon for a hardline priest, Venerable Galagodaatte Gnanasara Thero, a day after a court refused to reverse an order against their agitation.
The Colombo Chief Magistrate’s Court rejected a motion filed seeking to withdraw the order issued on Thursday prohibiting a group of Buddhist monks from continuing to occupy the vicinity near the Buddha statue at Viharamahadevi Park.
The monks had approached the magistrate’s court after police sought to evict them from the park, where they have been staging their protest since October 17.
The monks have been staging a sit-in at Colombo’s Viharamahadevi Park seeking the release of Gnanasara, who was sent back to prison earlier this month after the Supreme Court overturned a presidential pardon granted to him in 2019.
Lawyers representing the protesting monks said the court on Friday had not ordered an end to their protest.
“To protest and the right to expression are basic rights,” attorney Maithri Gunaratne said.
He said police complained that the protest was causing public nuisance and damaging public property, but the lawyers told the court no such incidents were taking place.
Gunaratne said the court also refused a police request to issue arrest warrants against the protesting monks.
Meanwhile, the monks were informed of an extraordinary gazette issued by the government addressing one of the demands raised during their agitation.
Under new regulations dated October 20, Buddhist monks will be allowed to wear their robes when taken outside prison.
The regulations also make it mandatory for the Prisons Department to inform the Buddhist Affairs Department when the robes of an imprisoned monk are removed.
The issue had become a key point of contention after Gnanasara was brought to court wearing civilian clothes, prompting strong protests from Buddhist clergy.
The monks had highlighted the disrobing of imprisoned clergy during their protest march from the central city of Kandy to Colombo, demanding Gnanasara’s pardon.
They had earlier arrived at the Presidential Secretariat after concluding a six-day protest march that began at the sacred Temple of the Tooth in Kandy but were barred from protesting there.
Gnanasara, 51, has led the Bodu Bala Sena (Buddhist Power Force) since 2012 and has been at the forefront of a hardline Buddhist nationalist campaign that drew criticism over its rhetoric towards Sri Lanka’s Muslim minority.
He was sentenced in 2018 to six years in prison for intimidating the wife of a missing journalist. The Supreme Court earlier this month overturned the presidential pardon granted to him in 2019 and ordered him to serve the remainder of his sentence.
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