Amila Thero released on bail

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 January 2010, 10:58 GMT]
Horana Magistrate Friday released Venerable Dhambara Amila Thero, a Sinhala extremist monk leader, who extended support to General (retd) Sarath Fonseka and later arrested on a fraud charge.

Amila Thero was allowed to go on cash bail in a sum of Rupees 25,000 and two sureties and the case is listed for further hearing on April 8, legal sources said.

Dhambara Amila Thero has been opposed to outside influence, both the Western and the Indian, since the Norwegian brokered Ceasefire Agreement in 2002 and his movement, the Patriotic National Movement (PNM), has been a key opinion maker of the Sinhala nationalism.

Amila Thero's movement exerted pressure on the Sri Lankan state to nullify the Norwegian brokered P-TOMS in 2005 and to unilaterally withdrew from the Ceasefire Agreement in 2008. He was formerly the leader of the National Bhikku Front (NBF), an ultra Sinhala nationalist organisation of Buddhist monks.

Chronology: