> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.jaffnamonitor.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Gnanasara Returns to Prison as Court Hears Why He Went Silent - URL: https://www.jaffnamonitor.com/featured/gnanasara-returns-to-prison-as-court-hears-why-he-went-silent/ - Published: 2026-10-05T16:30:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-05T21:15:51.000Z - Author: Our Reporter - Tags: JM COURTS, October 2026, JM Exclusive **COLOMBO, Sri Lanka —** A lawyer for Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara Thero, the Buddhist nationalist monk arrested over the weekend after Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court invalidated his presidential pardon, told the Court of Appeal on Monday that the monk had been unable to contact his legal team because of a weak telephone signal at the meditation hermitage where he was staying. The explanation came in response to a question from Justice Lakmali Karunanayake, who asked why, if the monk had not been evading the court, he had failed to contact his lawyers or provide them with instructions. The exchange, along with other details from inside the courtroom that have not been widely reported, was witnessed by a Jaffna Monitor reporter who attended the proceedings. The court ordered prison authorities to enforce the remainder of the six-year sentence imposed on Gnanasara Thero for contempt of court in 2018\. It also refused a request from his lawyer to allow the monk to address the bench directly. Gnanasara Thero, 51, the general secretary of the hard-line Buddhist organization Bodu Bala Sena, was brought before Justices Mayadunne Corea and Karunanayake by prison officers after police arrested him at the hermitage. His lawyer, Sudath Jayasundara, appearing with Iresh Seneviratne, told the judges that the monk had been under psychological distress and had gone to the hermitage on the advice of senior Buddhist clergy “to obtain mental rest.” Mr. Jayasundara said his client had not intended to disregard the court. Justice Karunanayake then asked why the monk had not contacted his lawyers and given them instructions. Mr. Jayasundara said the telephone network at the hermitage was weak, preventing his client from reaching his legal team. He also told the court that the presidential commission that investigated the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings had recommended that Gnanasara Thero be provided with protection. He asked the judges to direct prison officials to ensure the monk’s safety and provide him with necessary medical care. Deputy Solicitor General Rajitha Perera, appearing for the Attorney General with State Counsel Sajith Bandara, asked the court to give effect to the original sentence. He noted that the Court of Appeal had sentenced the monk in 2018, that President Maithripala Sirisena had pardoned him on May 23, 2019, and that the Supreme Court ruled on Sept. 10 that the pardon was invalid. Mr. Jayasundara then asked the judges to allow Gnanasara Thero to make a brief statement. The bench declined, saying that his lawyers had already made submissions on his behalf. The court ordered the Commissioner General of Prisons to take the necessary steps for Gnanasara Thero to serve the balance of his sentence. It also directed prison authorities to make appropriate arrangements for his security and medical care. As prison officers escorted Gnanasara Thero from the Superior Courts complex toward a prison bus, he resisted efforts to move him past television cameras and stopped to speak to reporters. Having been denied an opportunity to address the court directly, he used the moment outside to make a public statement. “I was not on the run, nor was I in hiding,” he said, adding that senior monks had advised him to withdraw to a hermitage and meditate because of stress. “I am not afraid to die,” he said. “Eat my flesh or drink my blood. I am not afraid. You die only once.” The case against Gnanasara Thero arose from his conduct during a magistrate’s court hearing connected to the 2010 disappearance of Prageeth Eknaligoda, a journalist and political cartoonist. The monk had appeared in support of military intelligence officers accused in connection with the disappearance and confronted Sandya Eknaligoda, the journalist’s wife, who has campaigned for years to learn what happened to her husband. The Court of Appeal convicted Gnanasara Thero of contempt and sentenced him to six years in prison in 2018\. He had served less than a year when Mr. Sirisena pardoned him. Ms. Eknaligoda and the Centre for Policy Alternatives, a Colombo-based research and advocacy organization, challenged the pardon. A three-judge bench of the Supreme Court ruled on Sept. 10 that it was arbitrary and invalid. When prison officials went to Gnanasara Thero’s temple in Nawala to return him to custody, he was not there. He subsequently made several public appearances without being detained before police arrested him at the hermitage after fresh warrants were issued. Later Monday, prison authorities removed Gnanasara Thero’s Buddhist robes and issued him the standard prison uniform, commonly known in Sri Lanka as a “jumper,” according to Senaka Palletenna, the prisons media spokesman. Mr. Palletenna said the monk was being held in a ward with the general prison population rather than in separate accommodation.