{"id":66785,"date":"2019-12-17T01:53:32","date_gmt":"2019-12-17T06:53:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=66785"},"modified":"2019-12-17T01:53:32","modified_gmt":"2019-12-17T06:53:32","slug":"swiss-fdfa-criticises-30-hour-interrogation-of-its-employee-over-three-days-despite-poor-health-and-the-public-statements-by-senior-sri-lankan-officials-questioning-her-account-before-the-investi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=66785","title":{"rendered":"Swiss FDFA “Criticises” 30-hour Interrogation of its Employee over Three days Despite poor Health and the Public Statements by Senior Sri Lankan Officials Questioning her Account Before the Investigation is Completed."},"content":{"rendered":"

By<\/p>\n

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

S<\/strong>ri Lanka police on Monday arrested a local employee of the Swiss Embassy in Colombo, who has been at the centre of a diplomatic controversy, for allegedly making a false accusation that she was detained and threatened.<\/p>\n

The Sri Lankan national, working at the visa section of the Embassy, was reportedly abducted and sexually harassed on November 25, a day after a top Sri Lankan police officer, who had been probing cases involving the Rajapaksa family, sought asylum in Switzerland.<\/p>\n

On Monday, she was arrested following Attorney-General Dappula de Livera\u2019s advice to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to name her as a suspect, \u201cfor exciting disaffection against the government and fabricating false evidence\u201d, the public prosecutor\u2019s coordinating officer Nishara Jayaratne told The Hindu.<\/p>\n

The tension between Bern and Colombo \u2014 over contradicting claims over the incident \u2014 could further escalate with the staffer\u2019s arrest, with Switzerland criticising the \u201clack of due process\u201d.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cSri Lanka\u2019s reputation as a constitutional State is at stake in this exemplary case,\u201d Switzerland said in a statement issued Monday night. The Federal Department of Foreign Affairs in Bern said it was \u201cconcerned\u201d about the arrest and that it \u201cexpects\u201d the Sri Lankan judiciary to comply with its \u201cown legal requirements, international standards\u201d and to protect personal rights \u201cbetter than before\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u2018Abduction fabricated\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa told local media heads on Monday that available evidence showed the \u201cabduction\u201d of the Swiss embassy staffer was \u201cfabricated\u201d, his office said in a media release. \u201cThe Embassy official must have been compelled by some interested parties to bring myself and my government into disrepute,\u201d he was quoted as saying.<\/p>\n

In a separate statement, the President\u2019s media division said Hanspeter Mock, Ambassador of Switzerland in Sri Lanka, called on President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Monday morning and \u201cassured continuous support\u201d to Sri Lanka. President Rajapaksa \u201crequested the Ambassador to cooperate with the government to conduct the investigation\u201d, the statement added.<\/p>\n

In an apparently different reading of the meeting, the FDFA said it \u201crepeatedly told\u201d Sri Lankan authorities that it is looking for a \u201ccommon and constructive way\u201d to resolve the \u201csecurity incident\u201d. \u201cThe Swiss Ambassador to Colombo underlined this in a direct conversation with Sri Lanka\u2019s President Gotabaya Rajapaksa,\u201d the statement from Bern said.<\/p>\n

\u2018Testified to CID\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

Though the Swiss authorities had maintained that the Embassy staffer was unable to testify in person due to \u201cdeteriorating health\u201d, following a Colombo court\u2019s order last week, the employee has been testifying to the CID for several hours, in addition to presenting herself for medical examination.<\/p>\n

The Swiss FDFA \u201ccriticised\u201d the 30-hour interrogation of its employee over three days \u201cdespite poor health\u201d and the public statements by senior Sri Lankan officials questioning her account before the investigation is completed.<\/p>\n

Over the last fortnight, Bern and Colombo put out contradictory claims over the alleged abduction, making their disagreement clear.<\/p>\n

While the Swiss Foreign Ministry said the employee had been \u201cdetained against her will on the street and threatened at length\u201d by unidentified men, who \u201cforced her to disclose Embassy-related information\u201d, Sri Lanka\u2019s Foreign Ministry sought to question the account, citing \u201cevidence\u201d that contradicted the staffer\u2019s claims.<\/p>\n

The Secretary to Sri Lanka\u2019s Ministry of Defence called it a \u201cbig-time drama\u201d. Bern has stood by its initial statement.<\/p>\n

Following the November incident, Sri Lanka\u2019s Human Rights Commission had expressed \u201cdeep concern\u201d and said unearthing those responsible was \u201cabsolutely essential\u201d to strengthen public confidence in law enforcement and to dispel public fears.<\/p>\n

Courtesy:The Hindu<\/em><\/p>\n

Tweet<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Meera Srinivasan Sri Lanka police on Monday arrested a local employee of the Swiss Embassy in Colombo, who has been at the centre of a diplomatic controversy, for allegedly making a false accusation that she was detained and threatened. The Sri Lankan national, working at the visa section of the Embassy, was reportedly abducted …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘Swiss FDFA “Criticises” 30-hour Interrogation of its Employee over Three days Despite poor Health and the Public Statements by Senior Sri Lankan Officials Questioning her Account Before the Investigation is Completed.’ »<\/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\/66785"}],"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=66785"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66785\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":66786,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66785\/revisions\/66786"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=66785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=66785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=66785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}