A court in Sri Lanka has ordered the former MP who killed a political rival in broad daylight in Colombo to go back to prison

A former legislator who was found guilty of killing his political adversary in a public gunfight had his presidential pardon overturned by Sri Lanka’s highest court on Wednesday, and it was mandated that he serve a life sentence in jail.

Judges determined that when former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa ordered the release of close friend Duminda Silva for the murder of three other people and a political competitor, he had violated due process.

An official from the court said, “The court ordered the setting aside of the June 2021 pardon for Duminda Silva and ordered the prison chief to take him back to jail.”

After a firefight between competing sections of Rajapaksa’s party in the capital city of Colombo in 2011, Silva—who was then a member of parliament—was found guilty of murder.

Gunfire between Silva and his bodyguards and former legislator Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra and three of his followers resulted in deaths.

Soon after his release from prison, Silva was promoted to a senior government position overseeing housing, a move that infuriated people all around the world.

The victim’s family contested his pardon in court, and he was ordered to return to jail while awaiting a decision. However, he chose to stay at a privately managed hospital, citing sickness.

Rajapaksa’s family had controlled Sri Lankan politics for the majority of the previous 20 years, but in 2022, amid the island nation’s severe economic crisis, protestors invaded his residence and forced him from office.

The former leader came under fire in 2020 for the pardon of an army soldier who had been given a death sentence for cutting the throats of residents in Tamil during the civil conflict that raged on the island for decades, including four children.