Colombo Chief Magistrate issues arrest warrant on Wimal Weerawansa

By Farook Thajudeen

The Colombo Chief Magistrate’s Court yesterday ordered to arrest of former Minister and NPP leader Wimal Weerawansa for failing to appear for a case.

The order was issued when the complaint filed by the Cinnamon Gardens Police against the MP and six others was taken up for hearing before Colombo Chief Magistrate Prasanna Alwis yesterday.

The case was filed on the charges of causing public inconvenience by blocking the roads around the United Nations (UN) Compound at Thummulla, Colombo when the then-UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Prince Zeid Al Hussein visited Sri Lanka in the year 2016.

Seven persons, including MP Wimal Weerawansa, Weerakumara Dissanayake, Piyasiri Dissanayake, Mohammed Muzammil, Jayantha Samaraweera, and Roger Senevirathne have been named as the accused in the case.Seven suspects who were also charged by the Cinnamon Garden Police pleaded with the court to postpone the case for a further date. 

The Magistrate also observed that the case has been postponed from time to time without any reasonable cause and warned the suspects to be present for the case on the next date of the case

Taking up for hearing the case, the Colombo Chief Magistrate issued an arrest warrant on MP Weerawansa for not attending the hearing and ordered him to be presented before the courts. 

The case was postponed to hear on 19 June.  During the inquiry before the court Weerawansa was not represented by any Counsel.