Former CID director suspended

<p>The former director of Sri Lanka’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has been suspended from duty.</p> <p>Shani Abeysekara who was demoted after the election of Gotabaya Rajapaksa, has now been interdicted on charges of discrediting the police force, in relation to telephone calls made with a former minister Ranjan Ramanayake and former top CID investigator Nishantha Silva who recently fled to Switzerland.</p> <p>Abeysekara was the superior who oversaw inquiries by Silva into the abduction and disappearance of 11 youths by the Sri Lankan navy and the assassination of journalist Lasantha Wickrematunge, among other high profile cases which implicated Sri Lankan state and security forces.</p>