"Shakthika Sathkumara has never ordered assailants in white vans to abduct innocents. Neither has he ever ordered for their stomachs to be gutted and thrown in the sea or the crematorium of the Borella cemetery. He has not either directly or indirectly had a hand in the bond scam. According to our knowledge, Shakthika has never engaged in anything which can be deemed as anti-social.
He is only responsible for ‘creating’. Reading this ‘creation’ written by Shakthika, a few robed individuals have been left offended. Taking it as an insult to the Buddha Sasana and themselves they have decided to initiate legal action against the author. As a result, a man whom we have never met and only known to us by name is languishing in prison.
Through his work, he has only sought to re-create a notion that many have guessed to be true. He has merely changed the angles of a well-known story to re-create yet another version of it. Perhaps he could have done it better. However, we have decided to stand for him and oppose this unjust imprisonment as creativity and re-creating a story is Shakthika’s right as an author. When I say ‘we’ I am referring to a group of ordinary citizens who merely wants to see justice done.
The remanding of Shakthika even for a day and separating him from his loved ones for merely writing something is truly a punishment. We are against this punishment meted out by the government who has joined hands with the religious authorities of this country. This punishment can never be justified. It is a punishment that may come in search for you next after having dealt with Shakthika. A majority who understood this joined us on April 4. I must thank those who supported us on the day. Your conscience which awoke at this necessary moment is the light which guides us to eventual human freedom."
Let us march forward against those who seek to strip us of our right to write, speak and think! Join us today (17) at 3.00 pm in front of the Fort Railway Station!!!
(Extracted from the Facebook page of Poet and Author Wimal Katipearachchi): https://www.facebook.com/wimal.ketipearachchi
Shakthika Sathkumara, the award-winning, Sri Lankan novelist,was arrested in April over a story about homosexuality and child abuse in the Buddhist clergy in Sri Lanka.
He was charged by a local magistrate with inciting religious hatred and breaching the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), a multilateral treaty adopted by the U.N. General Assembly.
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