Court allows 3 days of rest for Shashi Weerasinghe; case postponed

The Attorneys representing the wife of former Minister Wimal Weerawansa, Shashi Weerawansa, presented a medical report to the Colombo Magistrate’s Court this morning (24 Feb.), claiming that their client was unable to appear in court today owing to an illness.

The relevant medical report was presented when the case filed against Shashi by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), charging her with the submission of falsified documents to secure a diplomatic passport, was taken up this morning.

Accordingly, Shashi’s legal counsel explained that she was unable to appear in court as the medical report stated that she requires three days of rest.

Upon consideration of the facts, Colombo Chief Magistrate Prasanna Alwis ordered that the case be called on 28 February.

On 27 May 2022, Shashi Weerawansa was sentenced to two years of rigorous imprisonment after she was convicted of producing forged documents to obtain a diplomatic passport. She was also imposed a fine of Rs. 100,000.

Later, the attorneys representing Shashi Weerawansa filed an appeal challenging the prison sentence handed down to their client, and had also submitted a bail application requesting the court to release the client on bail until the conclusion of the hearing of the appeal.

She was later released on a personal bail of Rs. 5 million and a cash bail of Rs. 50,000 on 31 May 2022, while a travel ban was also imposed until the conclusion of the appeal hearing.