High Court Judge W.T.M.P.B. Warawewa, who acquitted former Army Commander Sarath Fonseka of all charges in the white flag case, is being harassed, Opposition United National Party (UNP) leader Ranil Wickremesinghe alleged yesterday.

Mr. Wickremesinghe told a public meeting at Dematagoda that Justice Warawewa’s computer had been damaged soon after he gave his verdict.

He said his party would raise this matter in parliament.

“We will take this up in parliament because it is the highest authority and exercises its legislative powers through the judiciary,” Mr. Wickremesinghe said and added that Justice Warawewa was not allowed to read out his verdict in Court. He said the usual tradition followed in the courts was to read out the verdicts when the Bench was divided but in this instance this tradition was not followed in Supreme Courts on Friday.

Mr. Wickremesinghe, who quoted excerpts from Justice Warawewa’s verdict, said Mr. Fonseka could not be charged as there was no adequate evidence and for the reason that he had not been engaged in publishing false stories against the government while there was no proof to confirm whether he had made the alleged statement. Justice Warawewa, in his verdict had said the plaintiff had used another statement that had been made by Mr. Fonseka at an election rally during the presidential election to prove the first point and added that this statement was not relevant to what Mr. Fonseka had said during the media interview and that nothing could be derived from the evidence given by the TV channel employees who had covered the rally. Justice Warawewa had said no conclusion could be arrived at, as they had failed to submit any cassette to court. He argued that it would be difficult to determine anything without listening to an unedited version of the recorded speech reportedly delivered by Mr. Fonseka at an election rally held in Ratnapura.

Mr. Wickremesighe pledged the UNP would fight for Mr. Fonseka both in national and the international forums.

Source: Daily Mirror - Sri Lanka