Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra murder case
Current status of the Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra murder case
Murder of MP/presidential advisor Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra and three others, shot in Mulleriyawa on 8 Oct 2011 during local government election unrest
What’s happened
None further re: this matter - concluded; remains imprisoned under the reinstated death sentence, confirmed as recently as Mar 2026
- Court
- Colombo High Court Trial-at-Bar (trial); Supreme Court of Sri Lanka (appeal and pardon review)
- Sentence
- Death sentence (upheld by the Supreme Court, per a secondary source dated 11 Oct 2018); pardoned 24 Jun 2021 by then-President Gotabaya Rajapaksa; pardon judicially voided 18 Jan 2024 by the Supreme Court as "arbitrary, irrational" and unconstitutional; returned to Welikada Prison
- Next hearing / due
- No upcoming hearing announced
Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra murder case timeline
- 8 September 2016
Convicted
Duminda Silva was convicted in the matter concerning Murder of MP/presidential advisor Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra and three others, shot in Mulleriyawa on 8 Oct 2011 during local government election unrest. The reported sentence was Death sentence (upheld by the Supreme Court, per a secondary source dated 11 Oct 2018); pardoned 24 Jun 2021 by then-President Gotabaya Rajapaksa; pardon judicially voided 18 Jan 2024 by the Supreme Court as "arbitrary, irrational" and unconstitutional; returned to Welikada Prison
Court: Colombo High Court Trial-at-Bar (trial); Supreme Court of Sri Lanka (appeal and pardon review)