A silent protest was held outside the Aluthkade Court Complex in Colombo today (29) as former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa appeared before the Colombo Chief Magistrate’s Court to give evidence via video link in the case concerning the disappearance of activists Lalith Kumar Weeraraj and Kugan Muruganandan. 

The case is being heard before the Jaffna Magistrate’s Court, which had earlier ordered Rajapaksa to appear before the Colombo Chief Magistrate’s Court today and provide his testimony remotely.

The protest, organised for 10.00 am, called for the truth to be revealed regarding the disappearances of Lalith and Kugan and other cases of enforced disappearances.

Addressing the protest, Frontline Socialist Party Education Secretary Pubudu Jayagoda said, “Lalith Kumar Weeraraju and Kugan Muruganandan were abducted and disappeared in December 2011 in Jaffna. Sixteen years have passed, but there has been no information about Lalith and Kugan.”

“We filed a habeas corpus petition before the Court of Appeal seeking the disclosure of their whereabouts, and the inquiry was subsequently referred to the Jaffna Magistrate’s Court. Keheliya Rambukwella, who gave evidence before the Jaffna Magistrate’s Court, said that the remarks he made at the Cabinet media briefing at the time were based on instructions given by Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who was then Defence Secretary.

“This is historic not only because a former President has been brought before court to give evidence after all these years. There are thousands of other disappearance cases in which justice has not been served. In delivering justice for these crimes, revealing the truth about what happened, punishing those responsible and preventing such incidents from happening again in the future are all important. We will continue our struggle in the legal sphere, as well as through national and international protests, campaigns and political activities. We are committed to creating a situation where no citizen of Sri Lanka will ever disappear in this manner again,” he added. 

The case concerns the 2011 disappearance of human rights activists Lalith Weeraraj and Kugan Murugananthan, during Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s tenure as Defence Secretary. (Newswire)

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The Jaffna Magistrate’s Court has granted permission for former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to give evidence remotely via video link in connection with the disappearance of activists Lalith Weeraraj and Kugan Murugananthan.

The habeas corpus petition, filed by the relatives of the two activists who were abducted in Jaffna on December 10, 2011, has been under consideration for several years.

Rajapaksa, who was serving as Defence Secretary at the time of the incident, was issued summons by the court on September 27, 2019, to testify in the inquiry.

Previously, Rajapaksa had given an undertaking to the Supreme Court that he was willing to testify before the Jaffna Magistrate’s Court. 

However, citing undisclosed “security concerns,” he later sought to give evidence through contemporaneous electronic audiovisual means.

Court records show that Rajapaksa failed to appear in December last year, with his lawyers citing threats to his life. 

Thereafter, the court emphasized that such claims must be formally presented to allow proceedings to continue.

The latest order now allows Rajapaksa to testify remotely, paving the way for the continuation of the long‑delayed inquiry into the disappearance case. (Newswire)

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