(COLOMBO) – The killing of popular journalist Lasantha Wickrematunge some 15 years ago was aimed with an ulterior motive to silence the independent Fourth Estate, whilst the authorities are yet to bring the perpetrators to justice, the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) charged on Monday.
“Wickrematunga’s killing was gruesome and it was said to note that a single culprit has not been apprehended and punished in this connection, BASL President Kaushalya Nawaratne was quoted in the local press a saying.
The public are entitled to know the truth and trying to silence journalists by imposing Government authority one could not suppress opinion and freedom of the press,” he said.
The authorities should at least now, even after 15 years of the killing, must apprehend the culprits and punish them to preserve justice, Nawaratne said.
The 15th death anniversary of the assassination of The Sunday Leader founder Editor-in-Chief Lasantha Wickrematunge, fell on Monday.
One of Sri Lanka’s leading journalists and an outspoken critic of the then Rajapaksa Government he was attacked as he drove to work and later died of his injuries.
The brazen attack was carried out by a group of gunmen riding motorcycles during the morning-rush-hour traffic at Attitiya in the suburbs of the commercial capital of Colombo.
