Sri Lanka’s Court of Appeal has rejected a series of applications, including one filed by Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith, seeking permission to intervene in a writ petition brought by former State Intelligence Service chief Suresh Sallay challenging his arrest and continued detention in connection with investigations into the 2019 Easter Sunday terrorist attacks.
A total of 12 applications were submitted by Buddhist clergy, including the Venerable Bengamuwe Nalaka Thera, Cardinal Ranjith and several civil society organisations. The applicants had sought permission to make submissions in Sallay’s case, which concerns the legality of his arrest and continued detention as part of the investigations into the attacks.
The court’s decision was delivered on Thursday, 22 October, following a hearing on the applications on 14 October. The court had scheduled the date for issuing its order after considering the requests to intervene.
The applications were heard by a two-judge bench comprising Court of Appeal President Justice Rohantha Abeysuriya and Justice Priyantha Fernando.
Sallay, the former head of Sri Lanka’s State Intelligence Service, filed the writ petition challenging his arrest and continued detention in relation to the ongoing investigations into the Easter Sunday attacks. The 12 applicants sought judicial permission to enter the proceedings and present their respective submissions in connection with that petition.
Among those seeking to intervene was Cardinal Ranjith, a prominent figure associated with calls for accountability over the Easter Sunday attacks. The applications also included submissions from the Venerable Bengamuwe Nalaka Thera and other Buddhist clergy, alongside several civil society organisations.
The Court of Appeal rejected the requests for permission to intervene. The decision concerned the applications submitted by the prospective intervening parties in Sallay’s writ proceedings, which challenge his arrest and continued detention.
The underlying petition relates to investigations into the coordinated terrorist attacks carried out on Easter Sunday in 2019. Sallay’s legal challenge focuses on the measures taken against him in the course of those investigations.
The court proceedings on 22 October followed the hearing held on 14 October, after which the bench fixed Thursday as the date for its order on the intervention applications.
