Abductions

Image: Minister Rajitha Senaratne with the ‘White Van’ drivers at the press conference yesterday.Picture by Kelum Liyanage. The Government will begin investigations into the rest of the murders and abductions committed during the Rajapaksa era after its affirmation in power on November 17, Health, Nutrition and Indigenous Medicine Minister Dr. Rajitha Senaratne said yesterday. The […]

Image: On the International Day of the Disappeared, 30 August, Colombo. © Sunanda Deshapriya. The OMP made such progress amidst an array of challenges including lack of cooperation from key state actors and continuous efforts to deny the rights of families of the missing and disappeared, says Saliya Pieris P. C. , Chairperson, Office on Missing Persons issuing a […]

Image: Trinco Navy camp where abducted 11 youth were held. The Office on Missing Persons (OMP) has decided to raise their concerns with President Maithripala Sirisena on the recent confirmation of rank granted by the Sri Lanka Navy to Commodore D.K.P Dassanayake. The former Navy Spokesman, Dassanayake is one of the main suspects connected to […]

Image: Sri Lanka has failed to implement many of the recommendations from the WGEID. © Sunanda Deshapriya. 2019. We thank the Working Group for its follow-up report on Sri Lanka. This month marks the two years anniversary of the legislative establishment of the Office on Missing Persons (OMP). While we welcome the independent work carried out by […]

Image: Waiting for the justice for disappeared relatives © Sunanda Deshapriya. Follow-up to the recommendations made by the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances in the report of its visit to Sri Lanka from 9 to 18 November 2015 (A/HRC/33/51/Add.2) 4. On 29 November 2018, the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances requested the Government of Sri […]

Image; Mauri Inoka has been waiting six years for justice held a solo protest on 2nd September 2019 at the GalleFace Green, Colombo. © Sunanda Deshapriya. Quintus Colombage,Colombo. Mauri Inoka Jayasinghe sits silently under the hot sun by the side of a main road in Colombo. It is Sept. 2 and this painful experience in […]

Image: Families of the disappeared gathered in front of UN, Colombo and handed over a memorandum. © Sunanda Deshapriya. August 30 was the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances. Despite Government figures indicating more than 65,000 complaints of disappearances in Sri Lanka, for most Sri Lankans, most media and the Government, it was just […]

Image: A relative of a disappeared writing on the memorial wall at OMP on 30 Aug 2019. © Sunanda Deshapriya. UN Resident Coordinator in Sri Lanka- Statement on the International Day of Victims of Enforced Disappearances. “No-one has been forgotten” Today we stand up for the rights of the victims of enforced disappearances and their relatives. […]

Image: Shavendra Silva, joined the army in 1984 and was its chief of staff from January ( REUTERS/Dinuka Liyanawatte ) GENEVA (27 August 2019) – A group of UN experts expressed serious concern at the appointment of Lieutenant General Shavendra Silva as Sri Lanka’s army chief, and urged the Government to advance long overdue reforms of […]

Image: General Shavendra Silva is seen at the Ampara Air Force camp in eastern Sri Lanka August 24, 2009.  © 2009 Reuters/Stringer/Files. Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia Director, HRW. Sri Lanka’s President Maithripala Sirisena has appointed a general whose forces have been credibly accused of war crimes as the commander of the national army. The move would seem to confirm the […]

Lieutenant-General Silva commanded Sri Lanka’s 58th Division during the final stages of the military campaign against the LTTE rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in 2009, commonly known as the Tamil Tigers, and UN investigationshave implicated the division in alleged serious violations of international humanitarian and human rights law. The UN High Commissioner for Human […]

Attorney General Dappula de Livera PC has requested the Chief Justice to nominate a three member Trial-at-Bar to hear the case involving the abduction and murder of journalist Prageeth Ekneligoda. The Co-ordinating Officer to the Attorney General, State Counsel Ms. Nishara Jayaratne told news media that the Attorney General has already prepared indictments to be […]

Image: Keith Noyahr not willing to come to Sri Lanka in person to identify his  abductors. Senior State Counsel Lakmini Girihagama appearing on behalf of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) informed the Mount Lavinia Additional Magistrate that former Nation Deputy Editor Keith Noyahr has agreed to an identification parade via video technology. Girihagama made this remark […]

Image: A shop owner in Minuwangoda, Sri Lanka after his shop was set on fire by Sinhalese mobs. Colombo, 12 June 2019 (The Delegation of the European Union (EU) issues the following statement in agreement with the embassies of France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Romania and the UK High Commission, as well as the embassies of […]

May 30, 2019/Press release. Condemn taking Journalist Mohammed Rizvi Maharoof into custody on baseless charges – Free Media Movement The Free Media Movement is deeply saddened with the injustice Journalist Mohammed Rizvi Maharoof is facing being arrested and taken in to custody on baseless charges., has raised a threat on freedom and safety of media […]

Photo:Rear Admiral A. Guruge, The now famous CID investigation into the abduction and murder of 11 youth by a Navy extortion gang, helped sleuths to break open a secondary racket involving a separate group of naval personnel, including high ranking officers, to abduct businessmen for ransom In June 2010 the gang robbery unit of the […]

11 boys abducted and killed in 2008; 14 naval officers implicated in the crimes, 13 of them arrested and produced before a magistrate. Last Thursday, the 14th suspect in the case, war time Commander Admiral Wasantha Karannagoda won reprieve from arrest in the country’s highest court – probably for the duration of his trial For […]

Conclusions and recommendations. 61. In 2015, by co-sponsoring Human Rights Council resolution 30/1, the Government of Sri Lanka recognized the need to address the past in order to build a brighter future, grounded in accountability, respect for human rights and the rule of law. The lack of decisive steps to that end, and of appropriate […]

In a landmark judgment, the Supreme Court has ruled that the lower courts were wrong to override the conclusions of a medical expert when considering forensic evidence of torture in an asylum claim.  An asylum seeker from Sri Lanka, known as ‘KV’, appealed a Home Office decision to refuse his asylum claim. Expert medical opinion […]

(ECONOMYNEXT 02.03.19) – Former navy chief, Wasantha Karannagoda, who is wanted in connection with the abduction and killing of 11 young men has for the first time involved former defence secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa in the case, court records showed. Filing a petition in the Supreme Court seeking the prevention of his imminent arrest by the […]

Image: Former navy chief, Wasantha Karannagoda in the middle. (ECONOMYNEXT/Feb 23, 2019) Former navy chief, Wasantha Karannagoda, has been accused of conspiracy to murder and made a suspect in the internationally-condemned killing of 11 young men a decade ago. Colombo Fort Magistrate Ranga Dissanayake impounded the retired admiral’s passport on Friday after police named him the 14th […]

(Sunday Observer 17 Feb 2019) Right wing politicians have taken up cudgels against Navy officials testifying against senior rankers implicated in an abduction for ransom racket in 2008-2009. Investigators worry the campaign of intimidation could hamper the probe and deter key witnesses from coming forward In 2012, Naval Intelligence officer Lieutenant Commander Krishan Welagedara became […]

Image: FMM team in front of the Human Rights Commission, Sri Lanka. Press Release/2019-01-29. The Human Rights Commission is ready to accept any basic information that could be provided in order to commence further inquiries into Assault, Killings and Disappearances of Journalists, Chairperson, Human Rights Commission, Dr. Deepika Udugama says. She stated this when she […]

Human skeletons of 269 people have been unearthed within 115 days of excavation of Mannar Mass Grave , the countries biggest mass grave which was discovered in May 2018 in Mannar city of Northern Sri-Lanka,  and this situation has raised serious concerns among human rights defenders and war affected communities on justice, future protection and non recurrence. Also 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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

“A certain cat had made the acquaintance of a mouse and has said so much to her about the great love and friendship she felt for her, that at length the mouse agreed that they should live and keep house together.” – Brothers Grimm (Cat and Mouse in Partnership) Some words are more evocative than others. […]

  In an act that smacked of political desperation after it became evident his party may not be able to show majority in the House, President Maithripala Sirisena yesterday dissolved Parliament with elections likely to be held on 5 January. The Gazette, which was sent by the Attorney General’s Department on Friday evening, was signed […]