News

The mainstream media coverage of the the Swiss Embassy employee who was allegedly kidnapped and later released has come under criticism for unethical behavior. Many pro government media has published the victims photograph without her consent. She appeared before the Police Criminal Investigations Department (CID) for the 3rd day today reports Colombo Gazette. Even before […]

Colombo Chief Magistrate Lanka Jayarathne yesterday extended the travel ban imposed on Swiss Embassy employee Garliar Barister Francis, who was allegedly threatened and kidnapped by a group of unidentified men, from leaving the country till December 12. When the case was taken up before the Colombo Chief Magistrate’s Court, the Magistrate also issued an order […]

Washington, D.C. – On December 9, 2019, Freedom Now and Proskauer Rose LLP filed a petition with the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention on behalf of Sri Lankan author Shakthika Sathkumara. Freedom Now and Proskauer argue that Sri Lanka’s four month detention of Sathkumara and the ongoing legal proceedings against him violate the government’s obligations […]

The Free Media Movement strongly condemns the continuous threats, harassment and violence the journalists have been subjected over the past few days due to their profession. The latest addition to this sequence of events is the assault targeting the Aluthgama provincial journalist Thusitha Kumara de Silva and his wife. According to him, the STF has […]

Aluthgama police were yet to arrest the suspects identified in connection with the assault of Daily Mirror /Lankadeepa Aluthgama Correspondent Thusitha Kumara de Silva and his wife on Friday night over an alleged exposure of an artificial toddy mafia in the Kalutara District. A large number of Kalutara District journalists representing mainstream print and electronic […]

The local Swiss embassy official at the heart of the diplomatic debacle between Sri Lanka and Switzerland has arrived before the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Police this evening, reports say. According to sources, the employee—who was accompanied by two lawyers and two other embassy representatives—was at the CID for nearly five hours during […]

A Special Presidential Commission of Inquiry (SPCoI), which has the power to recommend punishment, is to be established shortly to investigate those government officials who conducted investigations into the conduct of other public officials for Rajapaksa era crimes and corruptions during the last government. Information and Communication Technology State Minister Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena has told […]

Image: File photo of a Sri Lanka solider.  Already, another arm of the Police Department, the State Intelligence Service (SIS), the premier intelligence arm of the country, has seen its first change. Moved out is Director Nilantha Jayawardena who stands accused of not informing those concerned about the April 21 attacks. He has been transferred […]

The presenting of a Cabinet Paper by Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa this week, proposing the establishment of a Special Presidential Commission of Inquiry (SPCOI), under the SPCOI Law (1978) to investigate government officials who had conducted ‘witch hunts’ of other public officials during the time of the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe coalition Government as well as ‘third parties’ […]

Defence Ministry Secretary Maj. Gen. (Rtd.) Kamal Gunaratne assumed duties as the Chairman of the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka (TRCSL) on 06th December reports Colombo media. “We now have a good leadership under President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. Singaporean leaders always remind their people to serve more than now. There, in big digital screens they […]

A Sri Lankan brigadier who motioned death threats to Tamil protestors in London last year has been found guilty by a British court of violating the Public Order Act, after a protracted legal battle. Westminster Magistrate’s Court upheld a previous ruling that Sri Lanka’s Brigadier Priyanka Fernando “is  not  protected  by  diplomatic  immunity”, despite pleas […]

Image: First executive president of Sri Lanka J.R. Jyawardena too transferred senior CID officers for political reasons. I write this piece in great sadness. But I must because if I do not, I feel I would failing in my duty as an former policeman. Independence of the Police I am sad for the independence of […]

Leader of the Tamil National Alliance R.Sampanthan has told Ambassador Alaina B. Teplitz that although the TNA is prepared to work with the economic development initiatives of the government which are beneficial to the people it  will not surrender the interest and the rights of our people at any point. He has further said that […]

Johannesburg, South Africa: Eleven Sri Lankans who sued Gotabaya Rajapaksa in the United States for damages for torture have made the strategic decision to withdraw their case while Mr. Rajapaksa is President to prevent him from asserting immunity from prosecution. This move protects the victims’ right to refile their case after he leaves office. “Gotabaya […]

Image: Swiss Embassy, Colombo (Swissinfo) Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) Chief Dr. Deepika Udagama yesterday (03) said investigators should be given to access to the local employee of Switzerland Embassy allegedly abducted close to the diplomatic mission situated on the R.G. Senanayake Mawatha (formerly Gregory’s Road), molested and threatened by a group of […]

Image:Lawyer Marcel Bosonet (in tie) surrounded by supporters of the accused at the Federal Criminal Court in June 2018. (© Ti-press) The Swiss Federal Court has ruled that the Tamil Tigers are not a criminal organisation and has acquitted 12 people of charges filed by the Office of the Attorney General (OAG). In its indictment, the OAG […]

Pointing out the disasters if a dictator comes to power in a third world country what happens to the independent commissions, has proven with the recommendations of the national police commission, the Assistant Superintendent of Police B.S, Tissera who is considered as the third higher ranking officer of the CID has been transferred to the […]

Image: Sri Lankan ambassador to Switzerland, Karunasena Hettiarachchi. Press release, 02.12.2019. Following several demarches from the FDFA over the incident concerning an employee of the Swiss embassy in Colombo, State Secretary Pascale Baeriswyl has received the Sri Lankan ambassador to Switzerland based in Berlin, Karunasena Hettiarachchi, in Bern. Ms Baeriswyl confirmed at the meeting that […]

The Government is to strip the civic rights of those responsible for falsely implicating or involving others in murders or related investigations. Their conduct will be probed by a Special Presidential Commission to be appointed by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. Its tasks will cover those serving state investigative agencies such as the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), […]

Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka has called for a thorough and impartial investigation in to the reported abduction of a Swiss embassy employee to find out information on Sri Lankans who have sought protection through the embassy. The letter sent to acting IGP follows:

Image: The employee had been abducted on Monday and allegedly questioned about a police officer who reportedly sought Swiss asylum [File: Lakruwan Wanniarachchi/AFP] On 25 November 2019, a serious security incident involving a local employee of the Embassy of Switzerland in Colombo occurred. The employee was detained against their will in the street, forced to […]

Speaking at the press conference today held in New Delhi on the visit of Sri Lanka President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Prime minster of India has said that ” I am confident that the Government of Sri Lanka will carry forward the process of reconciliation, to fulfill the aspirations of the Tamils for equality, justice, peace and […]

Image: Thushara Vitharana, a journalist of Voice Tube were summoned by police for interrogation . 2019-11-29/ Media Release/FMM. Sri Lanka Police and Security Forces Must Maintain Openness on Public Peace. Free Media Movement of Sri Lanka expresses its concerns on calling two journalists to the Criminal Investigation Department, for questioning the information regarding the investigations […]

Image: Sri Lanka President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. (AP/ File) In Sri Lanka, with the longest history of universal suffrage in Asia, every election excites the nation, and that will be the case with the upcoming parliamentary polls. Less than a fortnight after Sri Lanka’s November 16 presidential elections, the country is faced with two realities. One, a […]

Image: The Swiss embassy in Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka. (Keystone / Anthony Anex) A local employee of the Swiss embassy in Sri Lanka has been temporarily kidnapped and threatened by unknown assailants in what the foreign ministry has called a “serious and unacceptable attack”. According to the Sri Lanka news website lankanewsweb.netexternal link, the woman […]

Image: Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Sri Lanka’s newly elected president, center, greeting supporters after his swearing-in ceremony in Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka, this month.Credit…Eranga Jayawardena/Associated Press. A Swiss Embassy employee is abducted and asked about asylum applications an.d investigators are banned from leaving just days after Gotabaya Rajapaksa is elected. By Maria Abi-Habib and Sameer Yasir. Fears of a potential crackdown on […]

COLOMBO, Nov. 26 (Xinhua) — Sri Lanka’s new government will make a fresh presentation to the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), explaining all the atrocities and war crimes committed by the Tamil Tiger rebels who were militarily defeated by government forces after a 30-year war in 2009, local media reports said Tuesday. President’s Spokesperson, […]

Image: This is a media suppression – Danushka Ramanayake. A Police team from the Mirihana Police searched the newsroom of Newshub.lk this morning, investigating a complaint that there was material that could be classified as hate-speech the Police Spokesman SSP Ruwan Gunesekara  has told RepublicNext today (26). He said police had obtained a search warrant from […]

social media users erroneously believe that Katuwapitiya is a part of the Negombo electorate These messages were not only degrading the people of Negombo, but were also an insult to those who had been killed These hate mongers went as far as to say that those voters who voted for Sajith were terrorists. Any Sri […]

Indicating that the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) resolution was a priority for President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s administration, Foreign Affairs Minister Dinesh Gunawardena yesterday said the key agreement would soon be revisited. Speaking after formally assuming duties, Gunawardena said that they were focused on “revisiting” agreements signed under the previous Government. He also noted that […]