Protests over release of tainted Sri Lankan ex-navy chief

UCA News reporter

Banners protesting the impending release of former navy chief Admiral Wasantha Karannagoda are seen in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo on June 24. (Photo supplied)

Family members of 11 Sri Lankans who disappeared during the civil war protested in front of a Colombo court to oppose the release of a former navy chief in a case that sparked international condemnation.

The families protested at the Courts Complex in Colombo on June 24 against the impending release of former navy chief Admiral Wasantha Karannagoda.

Relatives and rights activists joined them on the streets, holding placards and banners with pictures of their missing loved ones.

Karannagoda was accused of conspiracy to abduct, murder and disappear 11 young Sri Lankans during the decades-long civil war that ended in 2009. The case highlighted extrajudicial killings during the ethnic conflict.

He is one of 14 people accused of abducting the teenage children of wealthy families in 2008 and 2009 and killing them after extorting money, Al Jazeera reported in 2021.

He was detained, investigated and put on trial in a case that made international headlines.

However, in 2021, Attorney General Sanjay Rajaratnam announced that it would drop charges against Karannagoda, paving the way for a lower court to release him.  

During the June 24 protest, the families of the victims slammed the government's decision. 

After conducting investigations and filing charges, we now see attempts by the AG to withdraw charges against the former Navy Commander, said Brito Fernando, leader of a group representing the families of the victims.

We are doing everything to the best of our ability to prevent the AG from withdrawing charges against the 14th accused [Karannagoda], he told UCA News.

He regretted that while the Attorney General's Office had been opposed to appeals filed by the former navy chief for years. But it changed after he filed a writ application in the court seeking an interim injunction.

Therefore, the role of the AG raises suspicions, said Fernando, a Catholic.

A police investigation found credible evidence that navy officers were involved in the abduction and killing of 11 youths. In 2019, the Attorney General's Office indicted the Navy chief and others for the crimes.

In 2023, the US government banned Karannagoda and his wife from entering the US due to his involvement in human rights violations.

Karannagoda denied all charges and alleged that the investigation was a political revenge.

There are 667 charges, 14 accused, and 200 witnesses in this case involving the kidnapping of eleven people. Twelve years have passed in the Magistrate's Court case, and we are still waiting for justice, a protestor told UCA News seeking anonymity.

The desperate attempt to free former Navy Chief Karannagoda, the fourteenth accused in the case of eleven missing people, is disgraceful, she said.