Mallawarachchige Kanishka Gunawardhana vs H.K. Sumanasena – SC APPEAL NO.201/2014-2018

In the case between H. K. Sumanasena, Manager (Acting), Special Investigations Unit, Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (and related Respondents) and Mallawarachchige Kanishka Gunawardhana, Licensee, Samasa Foreign Employment Agency, the court addressed the issue of whether the Accused-Appellant possessed a right to appeal against a criminal conviction under the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment Act, in the absence of an explicit statutory provision. It was held that the right of appeal exists by virtue of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) as incorporated domestically, thus requiring the appeal to be entertained. The principle reaffirmed was that a convicted individual is inherently entitled to seek a meaningful review of the conviction in accordance