Court to hear Gotabaya Rajapaksa's petition tomorrow

The Court of Appeal today (17) ordered that the petition filed by former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, seeking an order preventing his arrest in connection with investigations into the Easter Sunday terror attacks, be taken up again tomorrow (18) for confirmation of facts.

The order was issued when the case was called before the Court of Appeal bench comprising President of the Court Justice Rohana Abeysooriya and Justice Priyantha Fernando.

The court directed that the matter be re-listed tomorrow for the purpose of confirming the petition’s facts.

At the beginning of today’s proceedings, Justice Priyantha Fernando informed court that he would not be participating in the hearing due to personal reasons.

President’s Counsel Romesh de Silva, appearing for the petitioner, requested the court earlier today to issue an interim order preventing his client’s arrest.

Deputy Solicitor General Suharshi Herath, appearing for the respondents, told court that she had only received the case documents this morning and therefore had not yet been instructed by the respondents.

The respondents in the case include the Director of the Criminal Investigation Department, Senior Superintendent of Police Shani Abeysekara, and the Attorney General, among others.