The presidential pardon was given at the ceremony at the BMICH yesterday (08) to mark the president’s first year in office.

The president shook hands with Jenivan and patted his back, after he got onto the stage.

Over the assassination charge, Jenivan had first been in remand custody for 10 years and was ordered imprisoned for 10 more years.

He told the president that he was immensely thankful for him for having freed him, which he thought would never be possible.

The president advised him to lead a good life in society.

Gopalakrishna Gandhi, a grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, who delivered a lecture at the ceremony, commended president Sirisena for his noble act, and recalled how his grandfather too, had pardoned the person who had tried to shoot him.

Confession in Sinhala

Jenivan was given a 10 year prison term last June following his arrest in Polonnaruwa on 23 April 2006.

Police had obtained a confession which had been written in Sinhala, and he had signed it on a promise of freedom.

The Polonnaruwa high court accepted the confession and did not object to the state counsel’s request to hand him a lesser sentence considering his long period behind bars.

However, after Maithripala Sirisena became president, the same state counsel said in 2015 that Jenivan should be given the maximum sentence for having tried to assassinate the country’s first citizen.

He had been on a fast against it since December 07.