Shakthika Sathkumara is an award-winning writer of poetry, short stories and fiction in Sri Lanka. He was unlawfully and arbitrarily arrested by the Polgahawela Police on the 01 April 2019, based on complaints made by monks of several Buddhist extremist groups that a short story, titled "Ardha"(Half) written and published in his facebook profile by Sathkumara, insults Buddhism and Buddha and distorts the character of his lay life.  He was then arrested and produced before the Magistrate Court of Polgahawela under Section 291B of the Penal Code and under Section 3(1) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) Act No.56 of 2007.

A Magistrate is powerless to grant bail to a person arrested under ICCPR Act, and it is only the High Court which can grant bail, that is also on special circumstances and also after a time-consuming process. On these grounds, Sathkumara has been denied bail continuously by the Polgahawela Magistrate Court and the writer has been kept in remand prison for almost 90 days. The Police is dragging the investigation on irrelevant matters and has so far failed to produce any evidence to frame and maintain any charge against the writer.  

Sathkumara has not violated any of the offences contemplated under the said provisions and his arrest and detention is a blatant violation of his fundamental rights, among others, to freedom of conscience and expression, which includes freedom of artistic expression. His arrest and detention, executed by Police at the behest of Buddhist Sanga establishment, is anti-democrtic and is a violation of rule of law.

The Supreme Court of Sri Lanka on 21 May granted leave to proceed to hear the Fundamental Rights case filed against the Respondents, the Officer in Charge of the Polgahawela Police Station, the Inspector General of Police and the Attorney General.

The decision of the Attorney General in this regard, whether to release him or to maintain a charge under ICCPR Act is yet pending.

I call upon writers, artists, publishers, workers, youth, students, academics  and intellectuals to join this Petition against Sathkumara's unlawful arrest and detention and demand immediate release of Shakthika Sathkumara from the Government of Sri Lanka.

The World Socialist Web Site has initiated an authoritative international campaign to get Sathkumara released. You may also send your statements of solidarity and protest to wsws.org.

Sanjaya Wilson Jayasekera,

Attorney-at-Law for Shakthika Sathkumara