(UTV|COLOMBO) – President Maithripala Sirisena resisted calls from the island’s Buddhist hierarchy to release the jailed-Secretary General of Bodu Bala Sena (BBS), Venerable Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara Thero on Monday (04), even as 518 other convicts were released to mark the island nation’s Independence Day.
Gnanasara Thero has long been accused of instigating hate crimes against minority Muslims in Buddhist-majority Sri Lanka, the Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
Since December, he has been serving concurrent jail sentences over disruptive behaviour in Court and intimidating a woman litigant.
Sri Lanka’s Buddhist hierarchy had pressed President Sirisena to grant an Independence Day reprieve but this was rejected.
“The Independence Day amnesty applied to those serving short periods of time and only those convicted for minor offences,” Prisons Spokesperson Thusahra Upuldeniya said.
An Association of Lawyers had warned that releasing Gnanasara Thero would amount to a snub of the Judiciary.
The Monk has denied involvement in anti-Muslim riots in 2014 that left four people dead.
Gnanasara Thero maintains close ties with Wirathu, an extremist Monk based in Myanmar, whose hate speech has stoked religious tensions in that country.
Wirathu visited Sri Lanka as a guest of Gnanasara Thero shortly after the 2014 violence, and the duo vowed to fight what they called the threat to Buddhism from external religious forces.
[alert color=”faebcc” icon=”fa-commenting”]Keeping up to date with breaking news while you are on the move is now simple with UTV Alerts [textmarker color=”8a6d3b”]Type REG UTV and send to 77000[/textmarker] on your Dialog, Airtel, or Hutch mobile connection[/alert]
