The supreme court verdict holding the charges on contempt of court against MP Sadda Vidda Rajapakse Palanga Pathira Ambakumarage Ranjan Leo Sylvester Alphonsu Alias Ranjan RamanayakaRanjan Ramanayake has been released.

The verdict states....

The charge levelled against him is that he committed the offence of contempt of court when he made the statement on 21.8.2017 outside the Temple Trees. He admitted in his evidence that he said the following words when he made the above statement. “Majority in Sri Lanka are corrupted Judges, corrupted lawyers. They work for money.”

We have earlier rejected his defence. For the above reasons, we affirm the Rule served on the Respondent and hold that the charge of contempt of court levelled against him has been proved beyond reasonable doubt.

For the aforementioned reasons, we convict him for the offence of contempt of court punishable under Article 105(3) of the Constitution and sentence him to a term of four (4) years rigorous imprisonment. The Registrar of this court is directed to issue a warrant committing the Respondent to prison to a term of four (4) years rigorous imprisonment.

The ruling also made reference to the following...

On14.12.2017 the Respondent Ranjan Ramanayake has said the following words. “I will not, under any circumstances, withdraw the
opinion expressed by me. Therefore I told only about these Judges.”

On 23.3.2018 the Respondent Ranjan Ramanayake has said the following words. “If the Honourable court gets some self satisfaction to conclude it after sending me to jail, I will very happily go. I will not withdraw anything what I have said.”

On 18.6.2018 the Respondent Ranjan Ramanayake has said the following words. “I will never withdraw. I maintain the opinion that I am correct.”

On 5.9.2018 the Respondent Ranjan Ramanayake has said the following words. “I will never withdraw. Even if they sentenced me to one year, two years, five years, ten years, twenty years or life imprisonment, I maintain what I have said.”

All the above statements have been made outside the Supreme Court building but in the premises of the Supreme Court.

The Respondent Ranjan Ramanayake gave evidence under oath. He stated that he is a Member of Parliament and a non-Cabinet Minister. He further stated that he was a film actor; that he entered politics in the year 2006; that in the Parliamentary Election held in August 2015 he was elected as a Member of Parliament from Gampaha District; that from August 2015 to date he represents Gampaha District;
that as at present he is a State Minister; that he has produced films regarding corrupt politicians; that he entered politics in order to send corrupt politicians to jail; that in the ten year period of his politics he was not accused of any corruption;

that he refused to accept two vehicles sent to him by the Government; that he refused to accept enhancement of attendance allowance given to the Members of Parliament and enhancement of salary given to the Members of Parliament; and that he does not enjoy privileges given to the Members of Parliament. He further stated in his evidence that on 21.8.2017 after attending a meeting at Temple Trees he addressed the journalists and said that 95% of Judges and lawyers are corrupt;

that although he said the above words, he had no intention of mentioning of Judges but had the intention of speaking about lawyers; that when he made the above statement to the journalists, his intention was to criticize the former Minister of Justice and talk about lawyers; that when he used the word „Judges‟ he changed it saying „me, me‟; and that in the said interview held on 21.8.2017 outside the
Temple Trees no question arose about Judges.

Ranjan Ramanayake further stated in his evidence that on 21.8.2017 when he made the statement outside the Temple Trees, he did not want to speak about Judges but the word „Judges‟ slipped from his mouth. He further stated in his evidence that when he makes statements to the electronic media, he has his own team to record what he says.

The complete supreme Court verdict can be downloaded here