COLOMBO, Aug. 27 (Xinhua) -- The assassin of a prominent Sri Lankan Tamil politician was on Monday sentenced to death.
A judge found the gunman guilty over the 2008 murdering of opposition United National Party (UNP) politician T. Maheswaran.
Colombo High Court judge Sunil Rajapaksa sentenced the gunman to death but as Sri Lanka has yet to implement capital punishment, the accused will serve life in prison.
The Tamil legislator, a former minister, was shot dead as he was celebrating the New Year at a Hindu Temple in the capital.
A bodyguard of the politician opened fire on the gunman as he attempted to escape after the shooting incident and was subsequently arrested.
The accused was a resident of the northern town of Jaffna and had moved to a suburb of the capital Colombo to carry out the killing.
The Tamil legislator escaped an earlier assassination attempt in 2004 and following his ultimate death in 2008. The UNP publicly accused the government of being responsible.
However the government said that investigation had found that the gunman was a member of the Tamil Tiger outfit.
Maheswaran's wife Vijayakala Maheswaran is now an active politician.
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