That elusive justice for Lasantha Wickrematunge

The cold-blooded assassination of Lasantha Wickrematunge,  one of the country’s most courageous journalists, in broad daylight, remains a  blemish in the criminal justice system which has failed for 18 years to hold those responsible for this heinous crime to account.

Former President and former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa was questioned by the Financial Crimes Investigation Division (FCID) last week in connection with the long-running investigation into the controversial 2006 MiG-27 procurement. The transaction has been under investigation for years, including an earlier FCID inquiry, and is widely accepted as the reason behind the brutal assassination of the Sunday Leader Editor who exposed the corruption.

In 2006, the Sri Lanka Air Force was involved in the purchase of MiG-27 aircraft. What was presented as a government-to-government transaction subsequently became the subject of serious questions about the procurement process and the destination of millions of dollars. Lasantha’s Sunday Leader exposed that a shell company called Bellimissa Holdings had siphoned over $ 14 million in this deal.

Lasantha relentlessly pursued allegations surrounding the deal. His reporting placed him in direct confrontation with then Defence Secretary Rajapaksa, accused directly of involvement through his relative Udayanga Weeratunga who acted as the agent for the transition. On 8 January 2008, while the country was distracted with the ongoing war in the North and the popularity of the Rajapaksas was at its peak, Lasantha was killed in broad daylight on his way to work.

CID investigations carried out after 2015 and court filings pointed towards the involvement of military intelligence personnel and alleged attempts to obstruct or manipulate the investigation. The key CID investigator of this case, Nishantha Silva, was hounded by Gotabaya within days of becoming President in 2019 and had to flee the country for fear for life.

Even more horrifying is what allegedly happened to two Tamil civilians in Vavuniya, Balraj Ram Prakash and Kumarasingham Vishnukumar. According to evidence reported in CID B reports, they were abducted in North of Vavuniya, their motorcycle was taken, and their bodies were subsequently found burned. Investigators believed the motorcycle was used in an attempt to create an LTTE connection to Lasantha’s assassination. The motorcycle was recovered after an anonymous ‘tip’ to the then  Inspector General of Police (IGP), who directed investigators to pursue the LTTE angle despite evidence suggesting involvement of a MI unit based in Colombo code named ‘Tripoli Platoon,’ which was also involved in several other crimes against journalists including the abduction and assault of Keith Noyahr. 

This is not simply the unresolved murder of a journalist. It is a story of alleged corruption, political power, the destruction or concealment of evidence, the killing of innocent civilians and the systematic failure of institutions to hold powerful people accountable.

It must also be said clearly that an allegation is not a conviction. Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s questioning by the FCID does not, by itself, establish criminal responsibility for either the MiG transaction or Lasantha’s murder, despite widespread public acceptance of his guilt. The proper place for that determination is an independent court, after a fair investigation and trial.

But that is precisely why the investigation must proceed without undue delay. Gotabaya Rajapaksa is now 77. The law must move at the speed necessary to ensure that an eventual prosecution is meaningful. Lasantha Wickrematunge's family deserves the truth. The families of the two Tamil men allegedly murdered in the cover-up deserve the truth. And Sri Lanka’s journalists, who continue to work under the shadow of past violence, deserve to know that the State will not permit assassination to become an effective method of silencing dissent.