Justice at last
On 2 September 1989, 22 years ago, Prins Gunasekara fled Sri Lankan State assassination/death squads and sought political asylum in London.
On 17 May 1990, Sri Lanka state-owned newspaper Ceylon Daily News (CDN) attempted to assassinate Prins Gunasekara’s character, by publishing, falsely, wrongfully and maliciously, an article under the headline “Tarbrush Campaign Against Lanka in London” signed by an unnamed person “A true patriot” alleging misappropriation of funds donated by the public. A prominently displayed photograph of Prins Gunasekara illustrated the said article in the editorial page. [as seen above.]
Prins Gunasekara sued the publishers of CDN – Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Limited (ANCL) – claiming damages suffered due to the said false and malicious publication. That was under the Premadasa regime [the 2nd Executive President].
On 12 September 1996, under the regime of Chandrika Kumaratunga, a specially appointed Colombo District Judge dismissed the claim, holding inter alia that the said publication was neither defamatory of Prins Gunasekara nor was it capable of reasonable construction of misappropriation of funds by Prins Gunasekara as alleged. That was over 16 years ago.
Prins Gunasekara challenged in appeal this manifestly perverse decision by the District Judge.
The intervening years saw the sad and steady erosion of the rule of law and the slow death of the independence of the judiciary, its politicisation so nakedly blatant and manifest that the International Bar Association reported the era -- particularly under President Kumaratunga -- Chief Justice Sarath Nanda Silva coalition, as "JUSTICE IN RETREAT" [Report- July 2009.]
Prins Gunasekara [still in exile] in association with human rights groups, both at home and abroad, fought relentlessly for the restoration of the rule of law and the just, fair and impartial administration of justice in the country: a very uphill task, given the depths of depravity to which the judicial administration in the country had been pushed - jointly by the Head of State (the Executive President) and the Head of the Judiciary (the Chief Justice).
Justice at last!
On 28 February 2011, the Court of Appeal [A. Salam J] upheld Prins Gunasekara's appeal, holding among other things, that “the said judgement of the learned district judge in my opinion has ended up in a travesty of Justice. In actual truth, the article in question is per se defamatory of the plaintiff and is capable of being construed by the readers as a reference made to the plaintiff” (Prins Gunasekara). The Court of Appeal also fixed the quantum of damages the plaintiff is entitled to claim at Rupees 5 million as prayed for in the plaint. He also awarded costs in both courts.
The full text of the judgment is available by clicking on the following link:
posted by Prins Gunasekara at 9:11 pm
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