The Governing Council of the Inter-Parliamentary Union,

Referring to the case of Mr. D.M.S.B. Dissanayake, a member of the Parliament of Sri Lanka at the time of the events, as outlined in the report of the Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians (CL/182/12(b)-R.1), and to the resolution adopted at its 181st session (October 2007),

Recalling that on 7 December 2004 the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka found Mr. Dissanayake, then an opposition member of the Sri Lankan Parliament, in contempt of court for his criticism of an advisory opinion issued by the Court, and sentenced him to two years' imprisonment; he served his sentence until, in early February 2006, President Rajapakse remitted the remaining portion of his sentence; Mr. Dissanayake nevertheless lost his parliamentary seat and, in addition, as a result of his conviction, will be barred from voting and standing in elections for a period of seven years; that, given the serious doubts about the fairness of the proceedings against him, it has called on the President of Sri Lanka to grant him a full pardon thereby restoring his civil and political rights,

Considering that, at the invitation of the Parliament of Sri Lanka, the Committee carried out an on-site visit to Sri Lanka from 21 to 24 February 2008, and noting that the Committee's delegation was able fully to discharge its mandate, which was to gather as detailed information as possible from all parties concerned on the case in question,

1. Thanks the Sri Lankan authorities for having received the mission and made the necessary arrangements to enable it to carry out its mandate; also thanks the Committee's delegation for its work and awaits with interest the mission's report and any comments on it by the parties with whom the delegation met;

2. Requests the Committee to report to it at its next session, to be held on the occasion of the 119th Assembly of the IPU (Geneva, October 2008).

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