US embassy cable - 04COLOMBO1975

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 COLOMBO 001975 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR SA/INS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/09/2014 
TAGS: PGOV, CE, Political Parties 
SUBJECT: SRI LANKA:  OPPOSITION TERMS JAILED MP "POLITICAL 
PRISONER" 
 
REF: A. COLOMBO 1944 
 
     B. COLOMBO 1936 
 
Classified By: DCM JAMES F. ENTWISTLE.  REASON:  1.4 (B,D). 
 
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SUMMARY 
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1.  (C)  Summary:  Opposition United National Party (UNP) MPs 
disrupted Parliamentary proceedings for two days with 
protests about the December 7 sentencing of a UNP Member of 
Parliament to two years in prison for contempt of court.  The 
UNP views the harsh sentence as further evidence of an 
ongoing effort by President Kumaratunga to weaken the 
Opposition and increase her numbers in Parliament. 
Opposition sources say the party is reviewing a number of 
options to reduce tensions before taking their protest to the 
streets.  This latest brouhaha, which has dominated 
Parliamentary proceedings, media reports and high-level party 
powwows over the past week, is only the most recent example 
of partisan politics that continues to distract Sri Lanka's 
leadership from giving the peace process the attention and 
bipartisan support it needs to succeed. 
 
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CONTEMPT CASE COSTS UNP ANOTHER SEAT 
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2.  (U)  On December 7 the Supreme Court sentenced S.B. 
Dissanayake, a Member of Parliament from the Opposition 
United National Party (UNP) and a one-time member of 
President Kumaratunga's Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), to 
two years of "rigorous imprisonment" for contempt of court. 
The charges stemmed from remarks Dissanayake admitted making 
in a November 2003 speech deriding the Supreme Court.  (Note: 
 Because the remarks were about the Supreme Court, the case 
went directly to the Supreme Court--thereby giving 
Dissanayake little leeway for appeal.)  The five-person 
bench, in imposing its judgment, justified the stiffness of 
the sentence by noting that Article 105 of the Constitution, 
which empowers the Court to hear contempt cases, provides no 
sentencing guidelines other than "imprisonment or fine or 
both as the court may deem fit." 
 
3.  (U) Following announcement of the sentence, UNP MPs 
disrupted Parliamentary debate on the budget on December 7, 
attempting to have their dissatisfaction at the sentence 
entered into the official record and, in one instance, 
demonstrating their displeasure by throwing crockery at the 
Speaker's mace.  The following day's proceedings were even 
more unruly, with Opposition MPs surrounding, or "gheraoing," 
the Speaker's chair and with one particularly obstreperous 
Member, apparently feeling that simply throwing things at the 
Speaker's mace was an insufficient sign of dissent, making 
off with the mace through the chamber doors. 
 
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UNP CONTEMPLATES COUNTER-STRIKES 
--------------------------------- 
 
4.  (C)  UNP contacts say they are stunned by the harshness 
of the sentence, which they attribute to President Chandrika 
Kumaratunga's influence over the Supreme Court, especially 
Chief Justice Sarath Silva.  Everyone knows that the Supreme 
Court is the "lapdog" of the President, UNP Central Committee 
member Mahinda Haradasa told poloff December 9; the 
disproportionate severity of Dissanayake's sentence only 
provides further proof.  Noting that Dissanayake's conviction 
effectively removes him from political life for seven years, 
Haradasa charged that the lopsided judgment against the MP 
attests to the President's ongoing attempts to whittle away 
UNP numbers in Parliament--either by inducing MPs away with 
Cabinet portfolios or intimidating them with legal action--to 
ensure legislative branch endorsement of a planned referendum 
to abolish the executive presidency (Reftels). 
 
5.  (SBU)  In the meantime, the UNP is floating a number of 
proposals--many of which seem of dubious legality--to 
overturn the conviction or reduce the sentence.  According to 
UNP Chairman Malik Samarawickreme, the party has already 
approached the Judicial Services Commission with a request to 
ask the Supreme Court to review its verdict.  (Since the 
request basically asks the Supreme Court to overturn its own 
decision, its chances of success seem slim.)  Another UNP MP 
appealed in Parliament to the President to pardon Dissanayake 
(a move that would allow him to regain his seat across the 
aisle from her government and thus also appears unlikely). 
Other UNP sources, citing a statement made in 2000 by Anura 
Bandaranaike, the President's brother and Speaker of 
Parliament at the time, asserting that Parliament enjoys 
supremacy over the judiciary, have suggested having the 
judgment vacated by Parliamentary fiat.  (Note:  Since there 
is no Constitutional basis to Bandaranaike's assertion and 
since the UNP is not in the majority in Parliament, this 
prospect seems rather dim as well.)  Finally, describing the 
verdict as an infringement of the right to free speech, UNP 
MP G.L. Peiris threatened in Parliament December 9 to bring 
the case before the International Bar Association and the 
International Human Rights Commission.  His comments were 
echoed in a December 9 press conference held by a number of 
UNP MPs in which one described Dissanayake as a "political 
prisoner" jailed for expressing his views.  Samarawickreme 
said that the party will try to exhaust all possible avenues 
to ameliorate the situation before taking the protest to the 
streets.  Failing the success of the strategies listed above, 
the UNP is considering a protest rally on December 21. 
 
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COMMENT 
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6.  (C) Two years in jail for ridiculing the Supreme Court 
seems somewhat severe and does little to offset widespread 
popular perceptions that the Supreme Court--especially Chief 
Justice Sarath Silva--is subject to Presidential influence. 
Since none of the strategies now under consideration by the 
UNP leadership seems likely to us to succeed, the stage 
appears set for even greater partisan confrontation and 
polarization.  The lack of political consensus in the south 
is often cited by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) 
as justification for continued stonewalling on resuming 
negotiations.  Recent developments, unfortunately, will only 
reinforce that message.  The increasingly poisonous 
atmosphere offers little hope that much-needed bipartisan 
support for the peace process will materialize soon. 
 
 
 
 
LUNSTEAD