The Court of Appeal has rejected the writ application filed by the incarcerated parliamentarian Ranjan Ramanayake.

Ramanayke’s legal counsel had filed the relevant writ petition seeking an interim order preventing the suspension of his seat in the Parliament.

The Attorney General and Secretary-General of the Parliament have been named as the respondents of the petition.

The case was taken up before the Court of Appeal Justices Arjuna Obeysekera and Mayadunne Corea this morning (April 05).

Declaring the verdict, Judge Arjuna Obeysekera stated that there was no legal basis for this petition.

On August 21, 2017, a contempt of court case against former State Minister Ranjan Ramanayake was filed over defamatory remarks made by him against the judiciary.

Speaking to the media following a meeting with then-Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe at the Temple Trees, Ramanayake claimed that the majority of judges in the country issue biased rulings and that they are corrupt.

On the 12th of January this year, a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court comprising Justices Sisira de Abrew, Vijith Malalgoda, and Preethi Padman Surasena delivered a unanimous verdict to sentence Ranjan Ramanayake to four years of rigorous imprisonment, as the charges against him were proven beyond a reasonable doubt.

Ramanayake is currently incarcerated at the Angunukolapelessa Prison.