Five Sri Lankan officers held for editor’s murder

Executive was shot in 2009 after he criticised president

Five officers in Sri Lanka’s military intelligence apparatus have been arrested on suspicion of murdering a newspaper editor eight years ago.

It was a murder with a dramatic aftermath, and it became an example of the previous government’s attacks on dissidents. Lasantha Wickrematunge, the editor of the Sunday Leader, was killed in 2009 on his way to work one January morning. Four men on motorcycles pulled up next to his car, smashed his window and shot him. Wickrematunge had been fiercely critical of then-president Mahinda Rajapakse and his brother Gotabhaya, the country’s defence secretary.

But despite the international outcry, the murder investigation languished for the remainder of Mr Rajapakse’s presidency.

It was only after Mr Rajapakse was replaced in January 2015 by Maithripala Sirisena that the investigation began again.

Last July, a sergeant major in military intelligence was the first to be arrested in connection with the killing.

Five intelligence officers were detained last weekend, representing the most significant breakthrough in the case.

But the question remains – did one of the Rajapakse brothers order the assassination? Wickrematunge certainly seemed to think so.

In a posthumous editorial – to be published in the event of his murder – he accused the then-president of being “drunk with power”. “In the wake of my death I know you will make all the usual sanctimonious noises and call upon the police to hold a swift and thorough inquiry,” he wrote, addressing Mr Rajapakse.

“But like all the inquiries you have ordered, nothing will come of this one too. For truth be told, we both know who will be behind my death, but dare not call his name.

“Not just my life, but yours too, depends on it.”

In Sri Lanka, the suspicion is widespread that the man who ordered the murder was Gotabhaya, although it has never been confirmed. Wickrematunge was killed just days before he was scheduled to testify before a judge about Gotabhaya’s corruption.

In the months after the assassination, Sri Lanka won its civil war in brutal fashion.

According to United Nations figures, government forces killed at least 40,000 civilians trying to exterminate the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, a militant secessionist group.

Other journalists who criticised the government also found themselves under attack. A cartoonist and political analyst named Prageeth Eknaligoda was allegedly abducted in January 2010. His body was never found.

Poddala Jayantha, another journalist, recalled anonymous threats and warnings, including a phone message that said: “If you go on doing what you’re doing, we’ll have to light candles for your funeral as well.”

In June 2009, Jayantha was snatched from the road into a van and severely beaten by six men.

He was warned that if he continued to be critical of Mr Rajapakse’s government, he would be shot.

Mindful of his family’s welfare, Jayantha fled to the US.

The defeat of Mr Rajapakse in the 2015 elections brought fresh hope that such crimes would finally be prosecuted.

But the lethargy of the investigations has dampened spirits.

“It is getting to the point when we are wondering whether Sirisena will ever really go after the biggest fish in these crimes, as he promised he would when he ran for president,” said a Colombo human rights activist, who did not want to be named.