Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court rejected a petition by presidential candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa to dismiss corruption charges against him, in a split decision on Wednesday.

Gotabaya faces charges over the alleged misappropriation of 33.9 million rupees used to build a museum dedicated to his parents on the south of the island. Though he denies the charges, a lower court case is now scheduled to go ahead next month.

“It’s a divided decision which shows that the Supreme Court judges are not unanimous on this,” Keheliya Rambukwella, Rajapaksa’s spokesman told Reuters on Wednesday. “He can appeal to the Supreme Court in the event the high court finds him guilty.”

Sri Lanka continues to have a “climate of impunity” said a UN Working Group report this week as it reiterated the importance of “international judges, prosecutors, lawyers and investigators” in an accountability mechanism for mass atrocities.

“While welcoming progress in the implementation of some recommendations, it notes that many have only been partially addressed or have not been addressed at all,” said the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances after a follow up visit to Sri Lanka. 

A vigil was held in Batticaloa last week, where locals marked 29 years since the enforced disappearance and massacre of 158 Tamils from the Eastern University with calls for justice and accountability.

A court in Mullaitivu resumed its trial of Tamil Guardian correspondent Shanmugam Thavaseelan on Tuesday, following a resurgence of attacks on Tamil journalists by Sri Lanka’s security forces.

Sri Lankan police armed with sniffer dogs conducted a search operation at Vavuniya Hospital earlier today, stating that they had been tipped off about a bomb on the premises.

At least 10 Sri Lankan cricket players announced they are to pull out of an upcoming tour of Pakistan, leading to a Pakistani minister claiming India had “threatened” the Sri Lankans.

A Tamil family in Australia, who are currently being detained on Christmas Island whilst they fight deportation to Sri Lanka, have appealed directly to Australia’s ministers to be allowed to live in the country as they await further legal proceedings.

Canada, Germany and the UK expressed concern that Colombo has made “slow” progress on accountability, calling on the UN Human Rights Council and the international community “to give the necessary attention and support to Sri Lanka”.

The states, whom alongside North Macedonia and Montenegro make up the Human Rights Council core group on Sri Lanka, said that “pledges made by Sri Lanka to its people are the essential ingredients for national healing, stability and prosperity.”

Tamil families of the disappeared held rallies across the North-East to mark International Day of the Disappeared and demanding justice for their disappeared family members. The largest of the rallies saw families from across the Tamil homeland joined by members of the public and politicians in a march from Vavuniya to Omanthai army check point, the location were hundreds of families surrendered their disappeared family members to the Sri Lankan army. Similar rallies were also held in Mannar and Batticaloa.