Journalists in Batticaloa commemorated murdered Sri Lankan journalist Lasantha Wickrematunge earlier today, marking 17 years since he was gunned down in Colombo, amid renewed outrage over the state’s refusal to deliver justice.
The commemoration took place at the Batticaloa Press Club, where journalists lit candles in remembrance of Wickrematunge, the former editor of The Sunday Leader and a critic of state corruption and human rights abuses under the Mahinda Rajapaksa led government.
Wickrematunge was assassinated on 8 January 2009 while travelling to work in Colombo. His killing took place during the final months of the Mullivaikkal genocide, a period marked by the systematic silencing of dissent and violent repression of journalists.
In an editorial published three days after his murder, Wickrematunge had anticipated his fate. He wrote:
"It is well known that I was on two occasions brutally assaulted, while on another my house was sprayed with machine-gun fire. Despite the government's sanctimonious assurances, there was never a serious police inquiry into the perpetrators of these attacks, and the attackers were never apprehended."
"In all these cases, I have reason to believe the attacks were inspired by the government. When finally I am killed, it will be the government that kills me," Wickrematunge added.
At the time of his assassination, Reporters Without Borders stated that “President Mahinda Rajapaksa, his associates and the government media are directly to blame because they incited hatred against him and allowed an outrageous level of impunity to develop as regards violence against the press.”
Seventeen years later, that impunity has only deepened.
In February 2025, under the current Sri Lankan regime, widespread outrage erupted after Sri Lanka’s Attorney General ordered the release of three key suspects linked to Wickrematunge’s murder and the subsequent cover-up. Among those released were former Army Intelligence Officer Premananda Udalagama, former Mount Lavinia Crimes OIC SI Tissasiri Sugathapala, and former Deputy Inspector General of Colombo South Range Prasanna Nanayakkara.
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Udalagama had been remanded over allegations that he abducted and threatened Wickrematunge’s driver, warning him not to implicate the Directorate of Military Intelligence in the killing. Nanayakkara had been arrested in 2018 for suppressing crucial evidence, including a blood-stained notebook in which Wickrematunge had recorded the registration numbers of motorcycles that followed him on the morning of his assassination. Those details were later removed from official police records.
The decision to release the suspects prompted a sharp response from Wickrematunge’s daughter, Ahimsa Wickrematunge, who called for the impeachment of Attorney General Parinda Ranasinghe. In a letter to current Sri Lankan Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya, she accused the Attorney General of either gross neglect of duty or a deliberate abuse of power. “The facts of what transpired last week make clear that this decision was no accident. It was no innocent mistake,” she wrote.
She further condemned what she described as a culture of “nonchalance, callousness, complacency and utter disregard for their duty to victims of crime and the witnesses who risk their lives to protect the integrity of our justice system.”
The Criminal Investigation Department had previously told courts that Wickrematunge was killed by a military intelligence unit. The investigation also revealed that Inspector Tissa Sugathapala was ordered by his superiors to remove records referencing the missing notebook. He later testified that he had secretly made photocopies before handing over the originals, confirming deliberate tampering by police.
In the aftermath of Wickrematunge’s assassination, two Tamil youths were killed as part of a cover-up operation by the Sri Lankan security forces, underscoring the lethal lengths taken to protect those responsible.