Indictments were served yesterday (17) at the Batticaloa High Court to Ampitiye Sumana Thera, marking his status as an accused under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) Act.
Following the service of the indictment under case Hcb/3636, the monk appeared before the court and was subsequently released on bail.
On 15 December, the Batticaloa Magistrate’s Court was compelled to issue a warrant for the arrest of Ampitiye Sumana Thera after he failed to appear for a scheduled hearing regarding the allegations of inciting racial hatred. During those proceedings, a Batticaloa Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) appeared on behalf of the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) to inform the Magistrate that the monk was missing.
The legal action originates from a formal complaint lodged by Dhanuka Rananjaka Kahandagamage, an Attorney-at-Law, on 23 October 2023. The charges center on a controversial video clip, examined by the Government Analyst, which purportedly shows the monk making violent and aggressive remarks against the Tamil community. In the footage, recorded in the presence of police officers, it is alleged that the monk threatened that “every Tamil person living in the South will be cut and killed.” Following the analysis of this evidence, the Attorney General previously issued a direct instruction to the police to arrest the monk, leading to the current High Court proceedings.