Day: 1 March 2018

President Sirisena Appoints Seven Members to Office of Missing Persons(OMP) With Presidents Counsel Saliya Peiris as Chairman;2018 Budget Allocated Rs 1.4 Billion for OMP

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By Zahrah Imtiaz President Maithripala Sirisena yesterday confirmed the appointments of the seven members to the Office of the Missing Persons (OMP) which was established in September 2017. At a meeting held at the Presidential Secretariat, the President appointed President’s Counsel Saliya Peiris as Chairman of the Office with six others also being appointed as members to work with him. The members are: Jayatheepa Punniyamoorthy, Major General Mohanti Antonette Peiris, Dr Sriyani Nimalka Fernando, Mirak Raheem, Sumanasiri Liyanage and Kanapathipillai Venthan. OMP Chairman Peiris speaking to Daily News said all members…

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Will they prosecute wrongdoers of the Rajapaksa regime?

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Prime Minister Appoints Committee Comprising Rajitha Senaratne,DM Swaminathan and Ajith Perera To Speed Up Investigations Into Alleged High -profile Crimes Committed during rajapaksa regime Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe appointed a three-member panel to speed up investigations into high profile murders and other crimes during the previous regime after slow progress in the past three years. Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne, Rehabilitation Minister D. M. Swaminathan and Prisons State Minister Ajith Perera were named into a committee where four ministers failed in May 2016. Prime Minister’s office said the three-man committee was…

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Former Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa Points The Finger At Ex-Army Commander Field Marshall Sarath Fonseka Over Murder Of Sunday Leader editor Lasantha wickrematunge

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Sri Lanka’s former defence secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa has attempted to shift the blame to his army commander Sarath Fonseka over the assassination of editor Lasantha Wickrematunge and asked police to investigate on those lines. Responding to an Economynext report published in the latest Sunday Island, the former defence chief said the then army commander Fonseka was in charge of the military intelligence which had been linked to the January 2009 killing of Wickrematunge . Contrary to Rajapaksa’s claim, police had told the Mount Lavinia magistrate in a B report in…

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Supreme Court Issues Interim Order Preventing Arrest of Ex-IGP Jayantha Wickramaratne By CID With Regard To Investigations Into Murder of Sunday Leader editor Lasantha Wickrematunge

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By Shehan Chamika Silva The Supreme Court today issued an Interim Order preventing the arrest of former Inspector General Jayantha Wickramaratne by the CID, over the ongoing Magisterial Inquiry into the killing of former Sunday Leader Editor late Lasantha Wickramatunge. A Fundamental Rights (FR) petition had been filed in Court on behalf of the former IGP to prevent the imminent arrest of him by the CID. The Petitioner cited Director of the CID, SSP Shani Abeysekara, OIC Nishantha Silva and Attorney General as respondents in the FR petition. The Bench comprising…

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Tamil asylum seeker deported by Australia ‘harassed by Sri Lankan security forces’

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Human rights advocates say Shantaruban subjected to ‘culture of reprisal’ and is too afraid to return home The Tamil asylum seeker forcibly deported from Australia last week is at liberty in Sri Lanka, but facing ongoing harassment and intimidation from security forces, human rights advocates have reported. Shantaruban was handcuffed and forcibly removed from Australia last week, after five years during which he said he was not allowed to properly present his claim for asylum. He was detained upon arrival at Bandaranaike airport in Colombo last Thursday and questioned by members…

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