{"id":52099,"date":"2017-03-22T03:30:43","date_gmt":"2017-03-22T07:30:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=52099"},"modified":"2017-03-22T03:42:04","modified_gmt":"2017-03-22T07:42:04","slug":"ex-def-secy-gotabhaya-rajapaksa-denies-cid-report-about-his-alleged-links-to-top-secret-death-squadstargeting-sri-lankan-media","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=52099","title":{"rendered":"Ex Def Secy Gotabhaya Rajapaksa Denies CID Report About his Alleged Links to “Top Secret Death Squads”Targeting Sri Lankan Media"},"content":{"rendered":"

By<\/p>\n

Meera Srinivasan<\/strong><\/p>\n

After Sri Lanka\u2019s Criminal Investigations Department (CID) told a magistrate court here about \u201ctop-secret death squads\u201d that were reportedly linked to the defence establishment of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa\u2019s time, his brother and former Defence Secretary Gotabaya denied the charges on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Monday\u2019s CID submission, based on former army chief Sarath Fonseka\u2019s testimony, pertains to the assassination a newspaper editor Lasantha Wickrematunga in January 2009, a case that Gotabaya Rajapaksa has denied involvement in.<\/p>\n

News agency AFP on Monday reported that the CID told the court the \u201cdeath squad\u201d was involved in a range of abuses against the media during Mahinda Rajapaksa\u2019s presidency, in which 17 journalists and media staff were killed.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

While the CID\u2019s submission, according to news reports, accused Gotabaya Rajapaksa of giving orders to the secret military outfit that reportedly targeted journalists and political dissidents, the former Defence Secretary categorically denied the allegations. \u201cHe [Fonseka] was the army commander at that time. If he knew of such a death squad, why did he not take any action on them. He was completely wrong in not taking action,\u201d Mr. Rajapaksa told The Hindu.<\/p>\n

Mr. Fonseka led the armed forces\u2019 final offensive against the LTTE in 2009, but fell out with the Rajapaksas soon after. Following his futile attempt to challenge Mahinda Rajapaksa in the 2010 presidential election, he was arrested and convicted on charges of corruption and inciting public disorder and stripped of all military rank. He was in prison until he was released following orders signed by former President Rajapaksa in May 2012. In March 2015, President Maithripala Sirisena conferred the highest military rank of Field Marshal on the retired army chief-turned-politician.<\/p>\n

Corruption charges<\/strong><\/p>\n

A powerful Defence Secretary during his brother\u2019s Presidency, Gotabaya currently faces charges of corruption that reportedly caused a $75 million loss to the country, allegations he has denied. His name also figured in the ongoing investigation of another high-profile case \u2014 the murder of Tamil legislator Nadarajah Raviraj in 2006. According to a news report published in the State-run Daily News in February 2016, a former police constable, who turned state witness, had claimed that the former Defence Secretary arranged a payment of Rs. 50 million to the Karuna faction to murder the Tamil MP, referring to Karuna Amman, or Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan, the former LTTE member who later joined the Rajapaksas.
\n
\nCourtesy:The Hindu<\/em><\/p>\n

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By Meera Srinivasan After Sri Lanka\u2019s Criminal Investigations Department (CID) told a magistrate court here about \u201ctop-secret death squads\u201d that were reportedly linked to the defence establishment of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa\u2019s time, his brother and former Defence Secretary Gotabaya denied the charges on Tuesday. Monday\u2019s CID submission, based on former army chief Sarath Fonseka\u2019s …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘Ex Def Secy Gotabhaya Rajapaksa Denies CID Report About his Alleged Links to “Top Secret Death Squads”Targeting Sri Lankan Media’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52099"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=52099"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52099\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":52100,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52099\/revisions\/52100"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=52099"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=52099"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=52099"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}