The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemned Sri Lankan authorities on Thursday for their alleged failure to uphold accountability and due process in the 2009 extrajudicial killing of investigative journalist Lasantha Wickrematunge, urging decisive action to end the country’s “alarming record of impunity” in journalist killings.
CPJ Asia Program Coordinator Beh Lih Yi denounced the Sri Lankan attorney general’s decision to drop charges against three key suspects in Wickrematunge’s murder as deeply troubling and unjustifiable, urging President Anura Kumara Dissanayake to fulfill his commitment to ensuring accountability for attacks on the press.
Wickrematunge, editor-in-chief of The Sunday Leader, was a staunch critic of the Sri Lankan government, renowned for his investigative reporting on corruption and human rights violations. On January 8, 2009, he was assassinated in broad daylight while on his way to work in Colombo. Eight helmeted assailants on four motorcycles ambushed his vehicle, forcing it to a halt before assaulting him with a blunt object. Wickrematunge succumbed to his injuries hours later at a local hospital.
Notably, Wickrematunge predicted his own murder. In an editorial published posthumously, he wrote, “Countless journalists have been harassed, threatened, and killed. It has been my honour to belong to all those categories, and now especially the last.”
Despite sustained domestic and international pressure, Sri Lankan authorities have failed to secure a single conviction in the case.
In April 2019, Wickrematunge’s daughter Ahimsa sued Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who was serving as Sri Lanka’s defense secretary at the time of Lasantha Wickrematunge’s assassination. The suit alleged that Rajapaksa instigated and authorized the extrajudicial killing, purportedly carried out by a specialized military intelligence unit known as the Tripoli Platoon. At the time, Rajapaksa was a dual US-Sri Lankan citizen. However, in October 2019, a US court dismissed the case citing common law immunity. Furthermore, in May 2022, lead investigator Nishantha Silva testified before The People’s Tribunal on the Murder of Journalists in The Hague, presenting evidence implicating Rajapaksa. In contrast, Rajapaksa has consistently denied any involvement in extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, or abductions.
The right to life and freedom of expression are fundamental protections under international law. Article 6(1) and Article 19 of the ICCPR affirm these rights, obligating states to prevent arbitrary killings and protect freedom of expression. The UN Human Rights Committee’s General Comment No. 36 on Article 6 emphasizes that states must take effective measures to prevent unlawful killings and ensure thorough investigations and prosecutions. Additionally, the UN Plan of Action on the Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity calls on states to implement concrete measures to prevent violence against journalists and hold perpetrators accountable.
A report by CJA notes that no one has been convicted for dozens of murders, enforced disappearances, and abductions of journalists during and in the aftermath of Sri Lanka’s 26-year civil war, which ended in 2009.
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