Tissanayagam found guilt on terrorism: sentenced 20 years
imprisonment
 The
Colombo High Court today(Aug 31), sentenced terror suspect J.
Tissanayagam, to 20 years of Rigorous Imprisonment (RI) under the
Prevention of Terrorism Act (No: 48/1979).
J. Tissanayagam was found guilty on 3 charged of - 1)
Attempting to cause the commission of acts of violence or racial or
communal disharmony with clear intentions of causing disrepute to the
government, an act of conspiracy.
2) Attempting to cause the commission of acts of
violence or racial or communal disharmony relating to articles he
published in the North Eastern Monthly magazine in 2006 and 2007, and
3) Collecting and obtaining information for the
purpose of terrorism and raising funds for the purpose of terrorism
through the collection of funds for the said magazine. He was
consecutively proved guilt on all charges and given successive sentences
of 5, 5 and 10 years rigorous imprisonment, respectively on each charge.
The prosecution showed that Tissanayagam had strong
links with the LTTE and supported it through his actions, for which he
was indicted.
"Media freedom and rule of law must co-exist for
democracy to flourish. They mustn't be brought on a collision course, if
it is the well being of democracy that we seek", a senior defence
official said commenting on Tissanayagam's sentencing.
"It is imperative that the media rights groups be able
to separate journalism from terrorism and help identify terror advocates
masquerading as journalists" he further said. Tissanayagam was taken
into custody by the Terrorist Investigation Department (TID) on 07 March
2008, and indicted under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (No: 48/1979)
by the Attorney General on 11th August, 2008. The High Court trail
commenced on 09th September, 2008.
The Constitution of the Democratic Socialist Republic
of Sri Lanka (1977) recognizes freedom of speech, expression and
publication as fundamental rights of all citizens of the country, but
such freedom is constrained with regard to specific acts, which are
contrary to requirements of a democratic society.
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