Sri Lanka’s Court of Appeals fixes date for Raviraj hearing

Sri Lanka’s Court of Appeals has said it will hear the case on the murder of Tamil National Alliance MP Nadarajah Raviraj in December of this year, more than 11 years after his assassination.

The appeal, lodged by Shashikala Raviraj, the wife of the murdered parliamentarian, challenges the Colombo High Court's judgment on the case last year. An all Sinhala jury had acquitted three navy intelligence officials and two members of the Karuna group accused of the murder after a month long trial.

The case will be heard before Sri Lanka's Court of Appeals on December 12, who will make a judgement on the lower court ruling reports ColomboPage.

Mr Raviraj was shot dead in November 2006 as he left his home for work in Colombo. No one has faced justice for the crime.

Speaking at the time, TNA leader R Sampanthan told Reuters that "it is government forces or forces aligned to the government, there can be no question”.

"This is an attempt to stifle and silence those who can justifiably espouse the Tamil cause," he said.

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