Sarath Ambepitiya (November 19, 1946 – November 20, 2004) was a

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

n 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 the nation and forced the government to crack down on organized crime.

Education

Educated at the

Royal College, Colombo Royal College, Colombo is a Single-sex education, selective entry boys' school located in Cinnamon Gardens, Cinnamon Gardens, Colombo, Sri Lanka. Started as a private school by Rev Joseph Marsh in 1835, it was established as the Colombo Academ ...

, Ambepitiya entered the

Sri Lanka Law College Sri Lanka Law College (abbreviated as SLLC), formerly known as Ceylon Law College, is a law college, and the only legal institution where one can enroll as a attorney-at-law in Sri Lanka. It was established in 1874, under the then Council of Legal ...

to study law and was called to the bar as an

attorney at law Attorney at law or attorney-at-law, usually abbreviated in everyday speech to attorney, is the preferred term for a practising lawyer in certain jurisdictions, including South Africa (for certain lawyers), Sri Lanka, the Philippines, and the United ...

Career

After practicing law for some time, he joined the judiciary in 1977 and served as a

Magistrate The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a ''magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judici ...

in many parts of the island. Later he was appointed

Chief Magistrate Chief magistrate is a public official, executive or judicial, whose office is the highest in its class. Historically, the two different meanings of magistrate have often overlapped and refer to, as the case may be, to a major political and admini ...

of Colombo and then Additional District Judge of Colombo. Ambepitiya's first appointment as a High Court Judge was in

Galle Galle ( si, ගාල්ල, translit=Gālla; ta, காலி, translit=Kāli) (formerly Point de Galle) is a major city in Sri Lanka, situated on the southwestern tip, from Colombo. Galle is the provincial capital and largest city of Southern ...

, after which he was appointed as a High Court Judge in Colombo. He was a noted for his fearlessness in making strong judgments and taking up cases that other judges feared to accept. Ambepitiya presided over many important criminal cases including the

Central Bank bombing The Central Bank bombing was one of the deadliest attacks carried out by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) during the separatist civil war in Sri Lanka between the government and the Tamil Tigers. Incident The attack took place on 31 ...

Murder

He was shot dead by assassins at his official residence along with his bodyguard, Police Inspector Upali Bandara, on November 20, 2004. At the time of his death, he was one of the most senior judges of the High Court and was expected to be promoted to the

Court of Appeal of Sri Lanka A court is any person or institution, often as a government institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in accord ...

. Only the day before, he celebrated his 58th birthday with a visit to the Kelaniya temple. The Chief Justice described Ambepitiya as "the most fearless judicial officer we had. His death is a great loss to the judiciary". The President later gifted his official residence to his family.

Conviction

Five men were indicted over the murder of Ambepitiya. This included the alleged mastermind,

Mohammed Niyas Naufer Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the monothe ...

alias Potta Naufer on charges of conspiracy to commit murder; and

Sujith Rohana Rupasinghe Sujith is a given name. Notable persons with this name include the following people: *Sujith Ariyapala, Sri Lankan cricketer *Sujith Fernando, Sri Lankan cricketer *Sujith Sanjaya Perera, Sri Lanka politician *Sujith Sarang (born 1985), Indian cine ...

, Suminda Nishantha, Udara Perera and Lasantha Kumara, who were alleged to have carried out the murder. On July 4, 2005, amid high security and following a three-month trial, a High Court Trial-at-Bar reached a unanimous verdict finding the five men guilty of murdering Ambepitiya and his bodyguard. All five were sentenced to death by hanging.Sarath Malalasekera and Wasantha Ramanayake.

References

External links

Justice Killed
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ambepitiya, Sarath 1946 births 2004 deaths High Courts of Sri Lanka judges Sinhalese judges Sinhalese lawyers Sri Lankan murder victims Alumni of Royal College, Colombo People of British Ceylon People from Galle Assassinated Sri Lankan judges