Tissa Attanayake gets bail

By T. Farook Thajudeen

Former General Secretary of the UNP, Tissa Attanayake, was granted bail yesterday by High Court Judge Sarojini Kusala Weerawardena. 

However, the court impounded his passport and fixed the hearing of the case for 20 March as a day-to-day trial. 

The Attorney General had indicted him in the High Court on charges of preparing and displaying a fraudulent document by forging the signatures of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and President Maithripala Sirisena in a document that was displayed to the media during the last Presidential Election for the purpose of affecting the result of the then Common Candidate Maithripala Sirisena.

In the run-up to the Presidential Elections in 2015, Attanayake made a public announcement claiming that there was a secret deal between Ranil Wickremesinghe and Sirisena.

He faulted Wickremesinghe and extended support to former President Mahinda Rajapaksa. He had also committed an offence under Section 3 (1) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) Act No. 56 of 2007 by inciting racial or religious hatred among ethnic communities to propagate war or advocate national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to cause discrimination, hostility or violence. It was also alleged that he had committed an offence under sections 454 and 459 of the penal code by forging a document and displaying it to the public as genuine.

He also had committed an offence under Section BO-C of the Presidential Election Act for displaying a fake document prior to an election for the purpose of affecting the result of that election in relation to the personal character or conduct of any candidate,