Graveside memorial service tomorrow to mark 7 years since Lasantha’s murder

The seventh anniversary of the assassination of The Sunday Leader founder Editor-in-Chief Lasantha Wickrematunge, which falls on 8 January, will be marked with a service at his graveside.

Family, friends, former colleagues and others, including those from political and diplomatic circles, will gather at Borella Kanatte at 9 a.m.to mark the anniversary and remember Lasantha.

Assassinated on 8 January 2009, Lasantha was one of Sri Lanka’s leading journalists and an outspoken critic of the Rajapaksa Government. He was attacked as he drove to work and later died of his injuries. The brazen attack was carried out by two gunmen on motorcycles in the middle of morning-rush-hour traffic.

The investigation into Lasantha’s murder has yielded no tangible results thus far and his killers still roam free, seven years later. The Sunday Leader Editor Mandana Ismail Abeywickrema is expected to make a statement on the investigation into Wickrematunge’s murder at the graveside following the memorial service.