Opposition lawmakers denounce swearing in of MP Premalal Jayasekara

COLOMBO (News1st): Opposition and government lawmakers engaged in a heated parliamentary debate on Thursday over the swearing-in of parliamentarian Premalal Jayasekara, a death row convict, this week. "...would you allow a person who was convicted of murder...to make laws for the people who have not done anything wrong," parliamentarian S.M. Marikkar queried. Opposition parliamentarians from the Samagi Jana Balawegaya argued over the precedent that is being set by allowing death row convicts to enter Parliament. However, Jayasekara said his arrest was a politically-motivated move undertaken by the previous Good Governance government that came into power in 2015. "I know that the truth will be revealed one day," the government parliamentarian from the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna remarked. Mahindananda Aluthgamage, another government lawmaker, pointed out that Jayasekara was allowed to enter Parliament in keeping with a court order. "Are you (the Speaker) to go against the order issued by court? If you do so, they will claim that the Speaker has ignored the court order," Aluthgamage argued. Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena said Jayasekara who was elected from the Ratnapura district was allowed to enter Parliament in line with a court order. Jayasekara was convicted in July of murdering an opposition activist after opening fire at an election rally in 2015.