Colombo: Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court on Wednesday directed authorities to issue summons to the ousted president Gotabaya Rajapaksa To appear in court in 2011 over the disappearance of two activists as they have now been denied constitutional immunity.
Rajapaksa, 73, will now have to give evidence in the missing case of two rights activists Lalit Veerraj and Kugan Muruganathan in Jaffna’s northern district.
The disappearance occurred 12 years ago, shortly after the end of the country’s long civil war When Rajapaksa was a powerful official in the Ministry of Defense headed by his elder brother, Mahinda Rajapakse,
At the time, Gotabaya Rajapaksa was charged with overseeing a kidnapping squad that shooed away rebel suspects, important journalists and activists, many of them never to be seen again. He has previously denied any wrongdoing.
When Rajapaksa was originally called to appear in court in 2018, he filed a petition in the Court of Appeals, claiming that his life would be in danger if he had to travel to Jaffna to appear in court.
The appeals court later ruled that Rajapaksa could not be summoned to court because he had by then been elected president and enjoyed legal immunity as the country’s president.
Since Rajapaksa has now lost his constitutional immunity, the top court decided to summon him to appear on December 15, when the matter will be heard. Rajapaksa was ousted in a popular revolt against him for his handling of the island nation’s worst economic crisis.
He fled to the Maldives in mid-July and announced his resignation from Singapore. He returned to the country from Thailand in early September.
Rajapaksa, 73, will now have to give evidence in the missing case of two rights activists Lalit Veerraj and Kugan Muruganathan in Jaffna’s northern district.
The disappearance occurred 12 years ago, shortly after the end of the country’s long civil war When Rajapaksa was a powerful official in the Ministry of Defense headed by his elder brother, Mahinda Rajapakse,
At the time, Gotabaya Rajapaksa was charged with overseeing a kidnapping squad that shooed away rebel suspects, important journalists and activists, many of them never to be seen again. He has previously denied any wrongdoing.
When Rajapaksa was originally called to appear in court in 2018, he filed a petition in the Court of Appeals, claiming that his life would be in danger if he had to travel to Jaffna to appear in court.
The appeals court later ruled that Rajapaksa could not be summoned to court because he had by then been elected president and enjoyed legal immunity as the country’s president.
Since Rajapaksa has now lost his constitutional immunity, the top court decided to summon him to appear on December 15, when the matter will be heard. Rajapaksa was ousted in a popular revolt against him for his handling of the island nation’s worst economic crisis.
He fled to the Maldives in mid-July and announced his resignation from Singapore. He returned to the country from Thailand in early September.