Attorney-at-Law Senaka Perera and his team have strongly condemned the introduction of Ms. Nirasha Jayaratne, the State Counsel for the victims of the incident at the Mahara Prison.
The lawyers have made this complaint to Chief Justice Jayantha Jayasuriya, Attorney General Dappula de Livera and President of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka Kalinga Indatissa.
The team consists of Senaka Perera, KS Ratnavel, Palitha Bandara, Namal Rajapaksa, Achala Seneviratne, Chula Ranjeewa Adhikari, Thambiah J. Ratnaraja and Luthif Zainul.
A motion was filed in the Welisara Magistrate’s Court on December 2, 2020 on the instructions of the relatives of the inmates of the prisoners who died in the shooting incident at the Mahara Prison on December 29, 2020. At the time of the summons, Attorney General Nirasha Jayaratne had stated that the NGOs could not prosecute the group, including themselves, posing as lawyers for the aggrieved party, calling them and their associates “NGOs” in a manner contrary to professional ethics.
The lawyers point out that they have the right to represent any aggrieved party as lawyers, and that calling themselves “NGOs” is a violation of their professional rights and embarrass. Attorney-at-Law Senaka Perera and his team have called on the Chief Justice and other officials to conduct an immediate inquiry into the conduct of the State Counsel, saying that her conduct was detrimental to her professional reputation and could further damage the reputation of the legal profession.