Capital punishment Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

is a legal penalty in Sri Lanka. However, there have been no executions since 23 June 1976, although death sentences were handed down continuously by the High and Supreme Courts for murder and drug trafficking convictions. These were automatically commuted to life in prison. The government decided to reinstate

capital punishment Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

in 2004 for cases of

rape Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or ...

, drug trafficking and murder after the assassination of High Court judge

Sarath Ambepitiya Sarath Ambepitiya (November 19, 1946 – November 20, 2004) was a Sri Lankan jurist. He was serving as the Judge of the Colombo High Court when he was assassinated. The assassination, orchestrated by a drug lord sentenced by the Judge, gripped th ...

Perjury Perjury (also known as foreswearing) is the intentional act of swearing a false oath or falsifying an affirmation to tell the truth, whether spoken or in writing, concerning matters material to an official proceeding."Perjury The act or an inst ...

that results in execution of an innocent person,

treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...

armed robbery Robbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take anything of value by force, threat of force, or by use of fear. According to common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the perso ...

, some military offences and certain crimes committed with the use of a gun (such as kidnapping,

extortion Extortion is the practice of obtaining benefit through coercion. In most jurisdictions it is likely to constitute a criminal offence; the bulk of this article deals with such cases. Robbery is the simplest and most common form of extortion, ...

, human trafficking, assault on a public servant) can also result in the death penalty.

History

The death penalty has a long history in Sri Lanka. The British restricted the death penalty after they took control of the island in 1815 to the crimes of murder and "waging war against the King." After independence, then Prime Minister S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike abolished capital punishment in 1956. However, it was quickly reintroduced after his assassination in 1959. Opposition to the death penalty started to become increasingly widespread and the United National Party government modified the use of it in its 1978 rewrite of the constitution. Under the new arrangement, death sentences could only be carried out if authorised by the trial judge, the Attorney General and the Minister of Justice. If there was no agreement, the sentence was to be commuted to life imprisonment. The sentence was also to be ratified by the President. This clause effectively ended executions. The last execution in Sri Lanka took place in 1976. In March 1999, after spurts of violence near the end of her first term in office, Chandrika Kumaratunga stated that the government would be reintroducing the death penalty. However, she was forced to back down in the face of overwhelming public protest. The issue hung in the balance, with all death sentences from then on being neither commuted to life nor carried out. After discussions were held regarding the matter, the motion that commuted all death sentences to life in prison was revoked in January 2001. On 19 November 2004, High Court Judge

was gunned down as he arrived home from work. He had a reputation for handing out tough sentences. The assassination immediately prompted Kumaratunga to effectively reinstate capital punishment. With the end of the Sri Lankan Civil War the country saw a sharp rise in child abuse, rape, murder and drug trafficking, prompting some lawyers and politicians to call for the reinstatement of the death penalty. Newly elected President

Maithripala Sirisena Maithripala Yapa Sirisena ( si, පල්ලෙවත්‍ත ගමරාළලාගේ මෛත්‍රීපාල යාපා සිරිසේන; ta, பல்லேவத்த கமராளலாகே மைத்திரி� ...

, in 2015, said he supports a dialogue on the introduction of the death penalty should it be approved by Parliament. The statement coming after a series of high-profile incidents of rape, killing and sexual abuse. The death penalty, if put into action, would be carried out by hanging in the gallows situated in

Colombo Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo m ...

. As of 2015, there are 1,116 convicts on death row. In 2018, it was reported that Sri Lanka is going to reinstate capital punishment for drug dealers. President

told the government, which earlier had unanimously backed the reinstatement of capital punishment, that he “was ready to sign the death warrants”. In February 2019, he told parliament that the death penalty for convicted drug offenders would be reinstated within two months. On 26 June, President Maithripala Sirisena signed death warrants with the execution dates for four convicts with drug-related offences, the first time that executions were ordered in 43 years. According to the president's office, the executions are meant to be a powerful message to those involved in drug trafficking. In June 2019, the first two hangmen in 43 years were hired. The country's president has also demanded the capital punishment for those responsible of the Easter Sunday attacks in the country.

Notable cases

* Maru Sira, criminal who gained fame through many daring prison escapes, executed by hanging on 7 August 1975. Originally he was sentenced to death ''in absentia'' for killing of a man in March 1974. The night before his execution, prison guards gave him Largactil in strong dosage in an attempt to prevent him escaping, but this caused him to collapse and his hanging was botched because the short fall caused by his slumped position, caused him to strangle to death instead of breaking his neck and killing him instantly *

Talduwe Somarama Talduwe Ratugama Rallage Weris Singho, better known as Talduwe Somarama Thero (27 August 1915 – 6 July 1962), shot and killed S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike, the fourth Prime Minister of Ceylon (later Sri Lanka), who served from 1956 until his assas ...

, a Buddhist monk responsible for the assassination of S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike in 1959. He was executed by hanging on 6 July 1962. A fortnight before his execution, he gave up his robes, and two days before, he was baptised by an Anglican priest

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Capital Punishment In Sri Lanka Sri Lanka Law enforcement in Sri Lanka Death in Sri Lanka Human rights abuses in Sri Lanka

History

Notable cases

See also

References