Activists and media freedom groups have protested the promotion of a military intelligence officer accused in the abduction and disappearance of journalist Prageeth Ekneligoda.
In a letter to President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, Sandya Ekneligoda, the journalist’s wife, said she learned through media reports that Lt. Col. Erantha Radeesh Peiris had been promoted to the rank of Brigadier. She expressed strong regret and opposition to the move, stating that Peiris is a defendant in the ongoing criminal case involving her husband’s 2010 disappearance.
Lt. Col. Peiris is one of several military intelligence officers charged in connection with the case. According to the letter, the Attorney General filed 17 indictments against him in 2019, including a murder charge. CID investigations have identified him as directly involved in the abduction, the letter said.
Sandya Ekneligoda warned that promoting an officer facing such serious allegations could compromise the judicial process. “By conferring such a senior rank on an officer accused of grave crimes, there is a serious risk of influencing witnesses, discouraging investigating officers, and undermining the judicial process,” she wrote.
She also referred to a separate ongoing case in which a retired senior officer, also an accused in the Ekneligoda case, is alleged to have threatened a key witness.
Civil society groups and press freedom advocates condemned the promotion, saying it damages public trust in accountability for enforced disappearances and undermines confidence in the rule of law. (Newswire)