Sri Lankan ex-leader arrives in Bangkok after fleeing protests
BANGKOK: Former Sri Lankan president Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Thursday arrived in Bangkok after his visa ran out following a month-long stint in Singapore where he had taken refuge from protesters at home.
The deposed leader landed on a private jet at Don Mueang International Airport around 8pm local time (1200 GMT), a senior Thai official said.
He left the airport’s VIP section around 40 minutes later with his wife and got into a black sedan, local media reported.
Rajapaksa flew into Singapore from the Maldives on July 14 after fleeing a deepening economic crisis and widespread protests in Sri Lanka.
He tendered his resignation shortly after his arrival.
Sri Lankans arriving in Singapore normally receive a 30-day visa, but authorities said they had initially given Rajapaksa only two weeks and later extended the visa by another two weeks.
“The Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) confirms that Mr Gotabaya Rajapaksa left Singapore on Aug 11,” Singapore’s immigration office said in reply to an AFP query.
The Thai foreign ministry, as well as a source in Colombo, had said Wednesday that he was seeking a new safe haven in Thailand.
Rajapaksa fled his nation after tens of thousands of protesters overran his official residence last month angry about acute shortages of food, fuel and medicine endured by Sri Lanka’s 22 million people since late last year.
An international human rights group last month formally asked Singapore to indict Rajapaksa for crimes against humanity during his country’s decadeslong civil war that ended in 2009.
The South Africa-based International Truth and Justice Project said it had urged Singapore to exercise universal jurisdiction to arrest the former president for grave breaches of international humanitarian law.
Singapore’s Attorney-General’s Chambers confirmed it had received a complaint from the rights group without giving details.