Jaffna Court grants Gotabaya Rajapaksa permission to testify online in Lalith–Kugan case

The Jaffna Magistrate’s Court has granted permission for former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to give evidence remotely via video link in connection with the disappearance of activists Lalith Weeraraj and Kugan Murugananthan.

The habeas corpus petition, filed by the relatives of the two activists who were abducted in Jaffna on December 10, 2011, has been under consideration for several years.

Rajapaksa, who was serving as Defence Secretary at the time of the incident, was issued summons by the court on September 27, 2019, to testify in the inquiry.

Previously, Rajapaksa had given an undertaking to the Supreme Court that he was willing to testify before the Jaffna Magistrate’s Court. 

However, citing undisclosed “security concerns,” he later sought to give evidence through contemporaneous electronic audiovisual means.

Court records show that Rajapaksa failed to appear in December last year, with his lawyers citing threats to his life. 

Thereafter, the court emphasized that such claims must be formally presented to allow proceedings to continue.

The latest order now allows Rajapaksa to testify remotely, paving the way for the continuation of the long‑delayed inquiry into the disappearance case. (Newswire)

The post Jaffna Court grants Gotabaya Rajapaksa permission to testify online in Lalith–Kugan case appeared first on Newswire.