Family of murdered Sri Lanka editor seek justice from new president
The Peninsula
Colombo: The family of murdered Sri Lanka journalist Lasantha Wickrematunge appealed on Monday to the island s new president to reopen an investigatio...
Colombo: The family of murdered Sri Lanka journalist Lasantha Wickrematunge appealed on Monday to the island's new president to reopen an investigation into the internationally-condemned assassination.
The anti-establishment editor was murdered as he drove to work in January 2009 by attackers later identified by police as members of a military intelligence unit linked to the once-powerful Rajapaksa family.
Saturday's election of the country's first leftist president, Anura Kumara Dissanayaka, had given the family "a renewed sense of hope" of justice, Wickrematunge's daughter Ahimsa said.
"We are hopeful that this leadership will bring a fresh perspective into finally addressing the atrocities that have taken place in Sri Lanka's recent human rights history," she said in a statement.
Wickrematunge had accused then defence ministry secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa of taking kickbacks in arms procurements, including the purchase of second-hand MiG jet fighters from Ukraine.
