Sri Lanka: SC orders to issue summons to former Prez Gotabaya in 2011 human rights violation case

Colombo [Sri Lanka], October 19 : Sri Lankan Supreme Court on Wednesday has given orders to summon former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa over the disappearance of two human rights activists in 2011 as he is now out of constitutional powers.
The order was issued after taking up for consideration a petition filed by the relatives of human rights and political activists, Lalith Weeraraj and Kugan Murugananthan who went missing on December 9, 2011, when Gotabaya Rajapaksa was serving as the Defence Secretary, NewsWire reported.
Gotabaya, who served as Defence Secretary when the two men disappeared was prior asked by the Jaffna Magistrate's Court to appear in court on 27th September and provide evidence.
However, the former president dodged the court's orders and claimed danger to his life if he were to appear in court to provide the evidence, according to NewsWire. He later filed a motion at the Court of Appeal, seeking an order to suspend the order of the Jaffna Magistrate's Court in the disappearance case.
Later, Gotabaya was elected as the President of Sri Lanka when the verdict was announced on the disappearnce case, however, he was freed from summoning due to his title and the constitutional powers that followed.
As soon as he resigned from his position due to the crisis in the country, the family of victims filed the petition, hearing which the Supreme Court on Wednesday instructed the lawyer representing the petitioners to issue a new notice to former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to appear before the court to provide evidence.
The Supreme Court also fixed the next hearing of the petition for 15th December 2022, NewsWire reported.
The former president fled the county following mass agitations calling for his resignation on July 9. Rajapaksa fled Sri Lanka in the early hours of July 13 after massive protests erupted in Colombo and demonstrators angry with the country's economic crisis stormed his official residence and office.
He resigned as president after reaching Singapore, where he was issued a 14-day visit pass.
He had fled to Singapore via the Maldives and then spent a few weeks in Thailand. He returned to Sri Lanka almost after two months after fleeing to Thailand.
Sri Lanka is suffering its worst economic crisis since gaining independence in 1948, which comes on the heels of successive waves of COVID-19, threatening to undo years of development progress and severely undermining the country's ability to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).