Sri Lanka President Maithripala Srisena pardoned a death -row prisoner who killed a Swedish teenager just a week before he leaves office, according to officials on Sunday.
Convicted killer Jude Jayamaha, from a wealthy, high-profile family, walked out of Welikada prison on Saturday following the highly unusual amnesty granted by Srisena
He is stepping down after Saturday’s presidential election at which he is not a candidate, announced last month he was considering a request to grant Jayamaha a pardon.
In 2005, Victim Yvonne Jonsson was holidaying in Sri Lanka where he was brutally beaten to death at a high-rise apartment in Colombo after she and Jayamaha had an argument.
The court had been told her skull was fractured into 64 pieces.
Jayamaha was initially sentenced to 12 years in prison. He appealed to a higher court, which rejected his plea and instead sentenced him to death, which was reaffirmed by the Supreme Court in 2014.
Jonsson’s sister Caroline took to social media, in a post on Facebook, she expressed her concern over Jayamaha’s pardon before the amnesty announcement.
“He showed and continues to show absolutely no remorse for what he has done,” she wrote.
Sirisena failed to secure support from his own party to contest the November 16 election and must leave soon after results are declared, a day or two after the polls.
Earlier this month, Sixteen political parties had linked an agreement to back Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) presidential candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa for the November 16 elections.
During an event, Rajapaksa, who was also a former Defence Minister said that based on voting patterns seen at the last Local Government Election, he was confident of winning about 56 per cent of the vote.
(With inputs from AFP)