Government controlled Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation has stopped live broadcast of Parliamentary proceedings as illegally appointed PM Rajapaksa has been defeated on number of occasions and now boycotting the parliamentary sessions. Speaker Karu Jayasuriya has promised to look into the matter. Speaker was notified that Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation has stopped live broadcast of Parliamentary […]

Image: Ven Dambara Amila. ©s.deshapriya. S.S. Selvanayagam. Nayake Thero Ven Dambara Amila attached to the Nalanda University College has filed a Fundamental Rights petition in the Supreme Court in relation to the acts of the President on the purported removal of Ranil Wickremesinghe from the office of the prime minister and the purported appointment of […]

Image: TNA leader Sampanthan with Prez Sirisena. ( the Economic Times). 29th November 2018. His Excellency Maithiripala Sirisena President of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka Presidential Secretariat Colombo -01 Your Excellency, Appointment of a Prime Minister who commands the Confidence of Parliamentග We write to you in regard to the above in the […]

Image: Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) Ravindra Wijeguneratne being escorted by a police officer yesterday – Pic by Gayan Amarasekara. After months of evading arrest, burly CDS surrenders to court; refused bail Remanded till 5 December; special protective custody ordered CDS reprimanded for arriving in court in military regalia; changes for next session Fort Magistrate […]

Image: In custody: Admiral Ravindra Wijegunaratne at the Magistrates Court in Colombo on Wednesday. | Photo Credit: AFP Meera Srinivasan COLOMBO,NOVEMBER 28, 2018. He is accused of harbouring the suspect in a case concerning the disappearance 11 youngsters in the final stages of war A magistrate court on Wednesday remanded Sri Lanka’s top-most military officer […]

A journalist ( Indika Handuwala of Morning newspaper) was assaulted as he attempted to take a photograph at the Fort Magistrate court premises by the security personals of Chief of Defense Staff RavindraWijegunaratne who was appearing in the courts to make a statement regarding the abduction of the 11 youth. We at Free Media Movement […]

28.Nov 2018. Several photo journalists and cameramen who were at the Fort Magistrate’s Court premises to cover the case in which Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) Ravindra Wijegunaratne allegedly involved in, had been attacked by several men who arrived on motorcycles a short while ago. CDS Wijegunaratne appeared before Colombo Fort Magistrate this morning, over […]

This reading list examines Mahinda Rajapaksa’s tenure as Sri Lankan President from 2005 to 2015. On 26 October 2018, Mahinda Rajapaksa was sworn in as Prime Minister, triggering a political crisis. Sri Lankan member of Parliament, Anura Kumara Dissanayaka, termed his appointment “unconstitutional.” Rajapaksa is currently unable to muster a majority in Parliament, and the removal of […]

Not long ago, the stooges of Mahinda Rajapaksa, and MR himself, spewed some fanciful justifications for the contested ( and obviously unethical) sacking of Ranil Wickremesinghe, and MR’s appointment as prime minister in one Friday night quirk by President Maithripala Sirisena. One argument was that MR was appointed to salvage the crumbling economy. That Ranil […]

ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka’s Presidential Secretariat has not responded to repeated requests from a Commission of Inquiry probing irregularities at state-run SriLankan Airlines and Mihin Lanka for more time to complete its work, its chairman said. Commission Chairman Anil Gunaratne, a retired Supreme Court judge, said that the Presidential Secretariat has not responded to multiple […]

Lieutenant Commander G. Laksiri, a key witness in a case regarding the abduction and disappearance of 11 youths in an alleged Navy abduction racket, has been threatened by six navy officers, including the Chief of Defence Staff Admiral Ravindra Wijegunaratne, Police Spokesperson SSP Ruwan Gunasekara confirmed. The victim is one of the main witnesses in […]

Beyond the distasteful power squabbles that presently make up the sum total of Sri Lankan politics or ‘politricks’ as cynics are wont to say, the three men at the core of the crisis undermining the nation’s constitutional text, (viz; Maithripala Sirisena, Mahinda Rajapaksa and Ranil Wickremesinghe) need to realise a basic fact. Their currency of […]

Since independence, our country has been ruled by Right and Center-Right parties. The latter was, however, mistaken as Center – Left on account of its association with some Left parties. In all such instances the major partner in the alliance used the Left to strengthen their power, at the expense of the Left. Their easy […]

In a shocking development, the Attorney General today withdrew an appeal filed against the acquittal of Bodu Bala Sena General Secretary Galagodaaththe Gnanasara Thera over causing damage to Christian church in Malabe, in 2007. When the case was taken up earlier this week, the Deputy Solicitor General informed the Court of Appeal that the Attorney General has […]

Image: People continue to protest the  constitutional coup by Sirisena. ( Kandy 24 Nov 2018  Photo Freddy Gamage) The illegal transfer of power on 26 October is starting to take a toll on high profile investigations and justice processes, lawyers warn, after a week that saw the attempted transfer of a top CID sleuth and the reinstatement […]

Sri Lankan experts say a mass grave found earlier this year in the north-western town of Mannar has turned out to be the country’s biggest such site. More than 230 skeletons have now been found at the grave in the former war zone, up from about 90 in August. Human rights groups say at least […]

Mahinda Rajapaksa, one of Sri Lanka’s two dueling prime ministers.  Paula Bronstein/Getty Images. By Jen Kirbyjen.kirby@vox.com     Two prime ministers are claiming power in Sri Lanka in a bizarre political struggle that has flung the country’s democracy into crisis. Violence erupted Friday in Sri Lanka’s Parliament after supporters of one prime minister reportedly flung chairs, books, and chili paste at the […]

Anura Kumara Dissanayake. File photo.   | Photo Credit: Meera Srinivasan . Sri Lanka’s Leftist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) or the People’s Liberation Front has been a crucial dissenting voice in the wake of the political crisis persisting for a month now. Its six MPs in Parliament, including party leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake, have been both emphatic […]

Image:  Liz McInnes MP, ( Manchester Evening News) Liz McInnes MP, Labour’s Shadow Foreign Minister, responding to recent events in Sri Lanka, urged President Maithripala Sirisena to appoint a Prime Minister through legal channels. She said, “I am deeply concerned by the recent decision of Sri Lanka President Maithripala Sirisena to dissolve Parliament, dismiss Prime […]

Image: The Sunday Leader Founding Editor Lasantha Wickrematunge’s daughter Ahimsa Wickrematunge weeping over her father’s body in January 2009. Ahimsa was the only one of Lasantha’s three children residing in Sri Lanka with her father at the time of his murder. Following is a letter by slain The Sunday Leader Founding Editor Lasantha Wickrematunge’s daughter Ahimsa […]

Image: Civilian protests are ongoing against the Illegal moves by Sirisena. Nov 20, 2018 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s former Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera says that Sri Lanka is on the brink of economic anarchy and chaos as never experienced before. Releasing a statement, Samaraweera says the cavalier and irresponsible actions starting on October 26th places at […]

13 Nov 2018/ BY INDEX ON CENSORSHIP Dear Mark Zuckerberg: What do the Philadelphia Museum of Art, a Danish member of parliament, and a news anchor from the Philippines have in common? They have all been subject to a misapplication of Facebook’s Community Standards. But unlike the average user, each of these individuals and entities received media attention, were […]

Image: © s.deshapriya. 20 Nov, 2018. Sri Lanka’s government has transferred police inspector Nishantha Silva, who was investigating several major investigations into attacks on journalists during former president Mahinda Rajapaksha’s tenure out of the Criminal Investigation Department with immediate effect raising concerns about the future of his investigations. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) joins […]

Rajeev Amarasuriya is an Attorney-at-Law in practice in the area of public law before the Superior Courts. He is a Fellow Member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA – UK), and an Alumnus of both the Faculty of Law of the University of Colombo and the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, Executive Education.  […]

Image: From a protest poster of press freedom organisations, Sri Lanka during the Rajapaksa era. 19 November 2018./AI. Responding to the transfer of Nishantha Silva, Officer-in-Charge at the Criminal Investigations Department and key investigator in high-profile human rights cases, Amnesty International’s South Asia Researcher, Thyagi Ruwanpathirana, said: “We are concerned about the seeming interference by […]

Image: Journalists orgnisations hold a vigil for journalists killed in Sri Lanka ( File Photo) Criminal Investigations Department OIC – Gang Robberies Nishantha Silva has been transferred out of the Department with immediate effect, raising serious concerns about the high profile abduction cases the official was handling. Silva was the chief investigator on several major […]

Image: pro Rajapaksa MP Weerawansa threatening police officers protecting speaker Jayasuriya. As pro-Rajapaksa parliamentarians threw water lethally spiced with red chillie into the eyes of unarmed police officers valiantly guarding Speaker Karu Jayasuriya, the seventy-eight year old Speaker may take heart that his grace under fire will stand out as the most remarkable example of […]

Image: Police men protecting the speaker were attacked with chili power by Rajapaksa loyalists. Meera Srinivasan Pro-Rajapaksa MPs again try to assault Jayasuriya; JVP leader accuses them of behaving ‘like beasts’. Amidst furore and violence caused by his MPs in Parliament, Mahinda Rajapaksa on Friday lost a trust vote for the third time this week. The […]

Image: Sri Lanka police shielding speaker Karu Jayasuriya from the attack of Rajapaksa loyalists MPs, 16th Noc 2018. ( Photo AP) Warns public confidence in parliamentarians at an all-time low;Insists world is watching, damage to Sri Lanka’s democratic reputation on the line . A deeply moved MP Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday lamented over what he termed […]

Image: JVP MP Vijitha Herath being treated after he was assaulted with a constitution book! ( Tweeter photo) Several policemen and Parliamentarians were injured during the chaos in Parliament today. Chili powder was thrown at some policemen as well as Parliamentarians Gamini Jayawickreme Perera and Vijitha Herath. Former Minister Malik Samarawickreme also sustained injuries in […]