Sri Lankan court sentences 12 men to death for killing politician and bodyguard

While courts have the legal power to impose the death penalty, Sri Lanka has not hanged a prisoner since 1976. Picture: iStock.

A Sri Lankan court has sentenced 12 men to death for the killing of a lawmaker and his bodyguard in May 2022 during violence that erupted at the height of the nation’s economic crisis.

The Gampaha High Court convicted the men for unlawful assembly, assault and the deaths of Amarakeerthi Athukorale and his bodyguard, who was a police officer, senior state counsel Oswald Perera said.