Attorney General (AG) Mohan Pieris told the UN Human Rights Council today that journalist J.S Tissanayagam was given the minimum punishment that could have been imposed under the provision of law for the crimes he was found guilty of by the court recently.
The Attorney General noted that Tissanayagam made use of the facilities available under the law, faced his trial, called evidence on his behalf and was given panoply of rights in rebuttal of the prosecution case.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights had in a statement yesterday made reference to the Tissanayagam case and said she was dismayed by the sentence of 20 years handed to him for critiquing Sri Lanka’s army in two articles which he published.
The Attorney General, in his speech at the 12th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council today, further urged the international community to cooperate with Sri Lanka in a true sense of partnership and desist from indulging in a consistent and systematic scheme of criticism intended to tarnish the image of the island which at this time would be counter productive to achieving development in a country which has emerged from a conflict that has plagued our people for more than 25 years.
© Daily Mirror
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