A full 16 years since the brutal, coldblooded murder of world-renowned journalist Lasantha Wickrematunge, his ghosts continue to haunt the corridors of power and shake the foundations of even the most powerful of governments in this country. In his signature never-say-die attitude, it appears that even his ghosts appear to be hyperactive these days, giving both the powers that be – as well as those responsible for it – plenty of sleepless nights.
The 16-year-long Wickrematunge saga in its latest avatar has got the Judiciary, Parliament, Cabinet, journalists, and even the highest in the land embroiled in a fresh tug-of-war that will likely lead to some sort of a resolution if the regime decides to walk the talk.
During the 16 years since his murder in broad daylight on a busy street in a High Security Zone, at least two elected governments have brazenly attempted to hush it up, even going to the extent of incarcerating the chief investigating officer on what ultimately proved to be trumped-up charges, while another two regimes, including the current one, promised to investigate and expose the murderers.
Of the two that promised justice and were subsequently installed in office, the first, the ‘Yahapalana’ regime of 2015, did attempt to get to the bottom of it by initiating a fresh investigation at the time and, towards that end, even exhumed the late Editor’s body for a second post-mortem. As many anticipated, the findings of that post-mortem were in stark contrast to the first, carried out under the previous regime, which stated that Wickrematunge had been shot in the head. The second one in 2015 indicated he had been stabbed with a sharp instrument. If there were any doubts about a cover-up at the highest levels, this alone was enough to raise plenty of red flags.
Over the course of the next few years, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Police carried out what has been described, even by the daughter of the slain journalist, as the most meticulous investigation ever carried out by the Police. Unfortunately, a palace coup in October 2018, when then President Maithripala Sirisena pulled the rug from under his own Government and installed the Opposition – the very party that was accused of covering up – obviously resulted in a spanner being put in the works, literally derailing the whole process. Whether that was by design or default is not too hard to guess.
The Easter Sunday attacks six months later not only sealed the fate of the investigation but paved the way for the former ruling party to return to power. The rest, as they say, is history, with all the investigating officers without exception being relieved of their assignments and seconded to obscure postings. The message sent out by mercilessly persecuting the chief investigator was loud and clear.
The unceremonious exit of that regime after just two years in office offered a golden opportunity for the ‘Yahapalana’-time Prime Minister, who was back in office as the all-powerful interim Executive President, to revisit the case and get the stalled investigation back on track. But it is to his discredit that he failed to do so and the electoral result at the last poll proved he had badly miscalculated his priorities.
The National People’s Power (NPP) in 2024, like the ‘Yahapalana’ Government in 2015, promised to deliver justice come hell or high water. It was on the strength of that and many other similar promises that it rode to office with a thumping majority. The people had spoken yet again, issuing a clarion call for justice and to the credit of the regime it indeed made a positive start by appointing the same man who headed the ‘Yahapalana’ era investigation to finish the job.
It is in this backdrop that the current Attorney General’s (AG) bolt-from-the-blue order to the Police to release three key suspects came as a shock that literally shook the very foundation of the establishment.
The order not only sent shockwaves across Hulftsdorp but caused a proper uproar in media circles. The AG’s contention was that there was insufficient evidence to implicate the three suspects – an Army Intelligence operative, a Police Inspector, and a Deputy Inspector General of Police – of having played a role in the sordid saga despite evidence to the contrary unearthed by the CID previously and meticulously documented under the supervision of its then Director, and current Head of Investigations, Shani Abeysekara. With the top cop back in the saddle, he now has the onerous task of fitting back the pieces he once put together which have been taken apart by the previous dispensation.
There is also the contention that the AG’s controversial ruling was based on flimsy evidence submitted to the department by officers who did not have a clue as to what was going on with the case following the mass purge in the department by the Gotabaya Rajapaksa-led administration in 2019, and therefore he could not be faulted for it.
Be that as it may, the AG’s direction left quite a stench that not only drifted into the corridors of power, unsettling the regime that months before promised a swift end to the investigation, but also caused the Fourth Estate to rise up in protest in Hulftsdorp. The controversy over the matter spilled into Parliament as well, with the Prime Minister being compelled to provide an assurance that justice would be done while also agreeing to a full-day debate in the House on the matter.
The unfolding drama reached a crescendo when the President decided to take matters to hand and took the unprecedented step of summoning the AG to the Presidential Secretariat, underlining just how high the stakes were. In a nation where most things are forgotten in a matter of two weeks, including murder, the enduring legacy of the Wickrematunge case 16 years down the road is in itself a case study.
While the merits of the presidential intervention in the matter will inevitably lead to much debate, including on the independence of the AG’s office and the propriety of a Government deciding to review a decision made by an autonomous entity such as the AG, the Bar Association too joined the chorus on Friday. It rightly pointed out that while review of such a decision was indeed possible, it must be done exclusively through the judicial route and not through the Government, for which there was no constitutional provision.
To add to the confusion, the AG’s Department issued what appeared to be a clarification on the same day, stating that the entire matter was with regard to a secondary case based on a statement made by the driver of the late Editor and not connected to the primary case.
The indictments filed against the three suspects make interesting reading. While the ex-Intelligence operative is accused of being directly involved in the execution of the operation, the Police Inspector is accused of destroying evidence, most notably Wickrematunge’s personal notebook in which he had noted the assailants’ motorcycle registration numbers as well as other crucial details which would have been enough to fry those responsible, while the ex-DIG is accused of supervising the entire cover-up operation.
It appears that Lasantha Wickrematunge’s legacy and impact from the grave is as powerful as the man himself when he had pen in hand. Having not only written his own obituary from the grave in the form of an epic editorial that still resonates among us, his impact on all four Presidential Elections since his death and particularly a regime elected 16 years after the tragic event is indeed profound and speaks volumes of a man whose fight for justice continues to live on, long after his death.
By all accounts, Wickrematunge was no ordinary journalist. He was a trailblazer in all that he did with the pen. He feared none and lived by his journalistic motto – unbowed and unafraid. He was a man who led from the front and was not used to playing second fiddle to anyone. It was this trait that was both an asset and an equally potent liability. Having sacrificed his life for the cause of a corruption-free country, it is the turn of the country to at least now ensure that justice is not only done but is also seen to be done.