Media Director of the Foundation for Peoples’ Rights Protection Chirantha Amerasinghe has filed a Fundamental Rights (FR) petition at the Supreme Court against his arrest by the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) in November 2020.
Attorneys-at-Law Thishya Weragoda with Dilan Nalaka appeared for the Petitioner instructed by Thamila Perera.
Issuing a statement on Wednesday (17), Chirantha said he was arrested for voicing his opinion on social media platforms against the forced cremation of COVID victims.
“Today marks the first anniversary of me being arrested for protesting against the President and protesting the barbaric act of enforced cremation of COVID19 deceased,” Chirantha said.
Stating that he was arrested on the eve of the 1st anniversary of the assumption of office by the President, he said it has been one whole year since the CID took away his mobile phones.
“They didn’t even know why I was being arrested or what wrong I had done. They just wanted to arrest me. Reasons didn’t matter. The CID is trying to persecute me for my comments on Facebook. The CID’s attempts to obtain an expert report from the Government Analyst have been stopped by the Magistrates Court given how my devices have been meddled with by the CID. For all I know, they must have tampered with them,” he further said.
Chirantha Amerasinghe revealed he has filed the FR petition, 1 year on, to secure the right to free speech and the right to be free from arbitrary arrest. (NewsWire)