Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has appointed his close ally, a convicted murderer, Former MP Duminda Silva as the National Housing Development Authority chairman.
Duminda Silva, who was granted a presidential pardon recently, was convicted of the murder of Parliamentarian Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra and three of his bodyguards. Duminda Silva was a close associate of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the then Defence Secretary.
“Presidential pardon of Duminda Silva, a former MP convicted of the murder of a fellow politician, is another example of selective, arbitrary granting of pardons that weakens rule of law and undermines accountability,” Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said earlier.
