දිනපතා සත්ය කරුණු දැන ගැනීමට අපගේ WhatsApp චැනලයටමෙතනින් එකතුවන්න.
In a context where the verdict was delivered regarding the case over the assault and killing of former Polonnaruwa District Member of Parliament, Amarakeerthi Athukorala and his security officer, several social media posts claiming that statements were made by the President and Deputy Minister Chathuranga Abeysinghe began circulating online. This is a fact-check carried out regarding those viral posts.
Social Media Posts :
Claim 1:
The post states, along with a photograph of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, that he is considering granting freedom to 12 protesters who were sentenced to death over the killing of former MP Amarakeerthi Athukorala.The particular post, being designed according to the structure of the Newshub Facebook page, at first glance appears as if it was posted on their official Facebook page.
Claim 2:
The below post claims that Deputy Minister, Chathuranga Abeysinghe has stated that none of those who received the death sentence are from Malimawa, and that all 12 protesters are members of the JVP and Frontline Socialist Party. The post is circulated along with an image of the Deputy Minister.
As the post is designed in a format similar to the official Newswire Facebook page, it seemingly appears to have been published on their official Facebook page.
Along with the reader’s request to investigate this, we decided to carry out a fact check regarding the post.
Fact Check :
Fact Check 1:
The verdict in the murder case, in which 12 convicts were sentenced to death, was reported by all leading media outlets, and the news was also shown on main TV broadcasts with footage like this, this, and this.
Our investigation confirmed that no post was published on the Newshub.lk Facebook page or website containing a statement allegedly made by the President about the death penalty convicts, which became a major topic on the 11th. Furthermore, if the President had made a statement that he was considering granting a presidential pardon to the death penalty convicts, it would have been leading news with headlines in the media. However, the media has not reported any statement circulating on social media or any statement made by the President regarding the verdict.
Presidential Media Division
However, these claims were declared false by the Presidential Media Division during our inquiry regarding the allegations. They further clarified that the President has never made any such statement on any occasion.
Fact Check 2:
Furthermore, it was clarified that no such post claiming that Deputy Minister Chathuranga Abeysinghe had made a statement regarding former MP Amarakeerthi Athukorala and his security officer was published on Newswire’s official Facebook page or website, even though the circulating post used their page’s format. Upon investigation, it became clear that they had made a post on their official Facebook page addressing the fake post circulating on social media. They stated that the post circulating on social media using their Facebook page’s format is false, and that no such post was ever published on their official page.
We further extended our investigation to check whether any other media outlet had reported news similar to the claim, and found that this was not the case.
Chathuranga Abeysinghe
Moreover, the viral social media posts circulating online were completely denied by Deputy Minister Chathuranga Abeysinghe, who also clarified that he has never made any such statement on any occasion. In addition, he posted on his official Facebook account stating that the content of the viral post is entirely inaccurate.
12 convicts sentenced to death in the Amarakeerthi murder case.
Twelve of the 41 suspects in the case over the assault and murder of former MP Amarakeerthi Athukorala and his security officer were sentenced to death yesterday (11) by the Gampaha High Court’s three-member Trial at Bar bench. Another four convicts were sentenced to 5 years and 6 months in prison, while 23 suspects were acquitted and released.
The verdict was delivered as a split decision. President of the Bench, Justice Sahana Maapa Bandara, stated in his judgment that 39 of the suspects should be acquitted and released. The other two Justices on the three-member Trial at Bar bench, Resantha Godakawela and Rashmi Singappuli, acquitted 23 suspects and sentenced the remaining 12 to death.
Among the suspects in this case, two died during the trial, and another two were absent from court.
The incident occurred on May 9, 2022, during the Galle Face protests, when former Polonnaruwa District MP of Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna, Amarakeerthi Athukorala, was heading towards Polonnaruwa from Temple Trees. The MP and his security officer were beaten to death by the protesters in Nittambuwa. More information regarding this could be found here and here.
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Conclusion :
Our investigation shows that President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has not made a statement that he is considering granting a presidential pardon to the 12 protesters sentenced to death in connection with the murder of former MP Amarakeerthi Athukorala and his security guard.
Meanwhile, Deputy Minister Chaturanga Abeysinghe has also not made a statement that there is no one from Malimawa among the 12 who received the death penalty, as is being circulated on social media, and that only the JVP and the Frontline Socialist groups are present.
Accordingly, both posts circulating on social media are false posts prepared with the intention of misleading society by forging the official social media post templates of two news websites.
Title:Claims that President and Deputy Minister Chathuranga Abeysinghe commented on the Amarakeerthi murder convicts are false!
Fact Check By: Fact Crescendo TeamResult: False
