Former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa appeared before the Colombo Chief Magistrate’s Court today (29) to provide evidence in connection with the 2011 disappearance of activists Lalith Kumar Weeraraj and Kugan Muruganandhan in Jaffna.
The Jaffna Magistrate’s Court had ordered Rajapaksa to testify via video link from the Colombo Chief Magistrate’s Court today, following a decision made in August.
Rajapaksa was serving as Sri Lanka’s Defence Secretary at the time the two activists disappeared. He was first summoned by the Jaffna Magistrate’s Court on September 27, 2019, to give evidence in the inquiry.
Earlier this year, the court granted him permission to provide his evidence remotely after he requested to appear through electronic audiovisual facilities, citing security concerns.
Court records indicate that Rajapaksa did not appear before the court in December last year. His lawyers had informed the court that he was unable to attend due to alleged threats to his life.
The case concerns the disappearance of Weeraraj and Muruganandhan, who went missing in Jaffna in December 2011.
