Sri Lanka Opposition legislator jailed for contempt of court

Ranjan Ramanayake, a legislator with the main opposition alliance, Samagi Jana Balawegaya, was indicted in 2018 when he was a state minister in the previous government.A 3-member Supreme Court bench on Tuesday convicted him for the contempt of court.Speaking to the media after a discussion with then Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe at Temple Trees in 2017, Ramanayake said that the majority of judges and lawyers in the country were corrupt.

An Opposition parliamentarian in Sri Lanka was on Tuesday sentenced to four years of rigorous imprisonment for making derogatory comments against the judiciary in 2017. Ranjan Ramanayake, a legislator with the main opposition alliance, Samagi Jana Balawegaya, was indicted in 2018 when he was a state minister in the previous government.

A 3-member Supreme Court bench on Tuesday convicted him for the contempt of court.

Speaking to the media after a discussion with then Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe at Temple Trees in 2017, Ramanayake said that the majority of judges and lawyers in the country were corrupt. Ramanayake, an actor-turned-politician, is a vocal anti-corruption crusader.