Will The New Autopsy Report Implicate Former Kalubowila JMO?

“CID obtained court approval for the exhumation, as the post mortem report issued by the then Judicial Medical Officer (JMO) of the Colombo South Teaching Hospital, Kalubowila seems both wrong and suspicious and hence required to obtain a fresh report to find what the cause of death was,” highly reliable defence sources said on condition of anonymity.  Director CID SSP, B.R.S.R. Nagahamulla, ASPs B.S. Tissera and A. Wickremasekera led the team of CID officers while Borella Divisional HQI who was also a former CID officer led the Borella police team at the exhumation. The exhumation started at 8.35am and the remains were taken out at 11.30am under the supervision of Colombo Additional Magistrate Mohammed Mihal, Colombo Chief JMO Dr. Ajith Tennakoon, Dr. Jean Perera and the Kandy JMO. By 11.45 am, the remains were taken from Kanatte to the Colombo JMO’s office under tight police security. Officers from the Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) including its Chief Medical Officer Dr.Wijayamuni too were at present at the exhumation. It is learnt that the CID has asked the Colombo JMO not to start the investigation until they get a directive from the Mt. Lavinia Magistrate to furnish certain vital questionnaire to the JMO in regard to the post mortem. “The Magistrate’s advice will be obtained this week and once the questionnaire is given to the Colombo JMO, the investigation process will start off,” sources said. Meanwhile the sources further said that the CID has now identified who sent the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) over Wickrematunge’s grave at the time of its exhumation and are awaiting the Magistrate’s directive to act against them for contempt of court. “Despite of the court ruling that the media cannot be allowed to cover the process, a certain group sent a drone to capture images of the exhumation. Once the CID receives the court order legal action would be taken against this party on the charges of contempt of court,” sources added.

JMO Kalubowila Dr. K. Sunil Kumara’s autopsy report seems to be a foul play as it says the cause of death was due to cranio cerebral injuries following a discharge of a firearm, the reports of the Government Analyst and Prof. Mohan Silva who performed an emergency operation on Wickrematunge soon after the latter’s admission to the Kalubowila hospital on January eighth 2009  says there were no trace of any gunshot injuries. The Colombo JMO is to submit the second autopsy report within two weeks. “Unlike in Wasim Thjudeen’s case, it is not difficult to ascertain Wickrematunge’s cause of death as if the death has occurred due to bullet injuries; the damage to the skull is very clear unlike to stab injuries where the skull could have cracks around the damaged area. Even a medical student can identify t the difference between a gunshot damage and stabbed damage,” a leading medical professional told The Sunday Leader.

Meanwhile defence sources said that it was puzzling the way the former Kalubowila JMO in his six page post mortem report describes about the death. “Until the last page where the doctor gives the cause of death, the JMO has never mentioned any firearm or gun powder involvement in the murder but suddenly on the last page he had come to a conclusion that the death was due to a wound following a discharge of a firearm. The first few pages says that the death was due to an assault, stab or from a fall,” sources added.

According to the sources, the telephone details of former Kalubowila JMO shows that he was in touch with former senior DIG Prasanna Nanayakkara soon after Wickrematunge’s death and also after the CID started the investigation under the present regime. “Although the JMO did not reveal that he was in contact with the then Senior DIG Nanayakkara though the investigators questioned him whether he was constantly in touch with any police personnel, the JMO had no other options but to spill the beans when the CID showed his detailed telephone bills that indicates he had been talking to the DIG. It was only after the telephone bills was shown the JMO accepted the fact but he said that he cannot remember what they spoke about which is yet another lie. It is this DIG Nanayakkara who is accused of destroying  Wickrematunge’s note books in which he has written down the registration numbers of the motorbikes of his killers. It is believed that DIG Nanayakkara may have instructed the JMO to write the cause of death as due to gunshot injuries,” sources claimed.

It is also learnt, that former IGPs Jayantha Wickremaratne and Mahinda Balasuriya are now in and out of the CID almost every day as they are being questioned constantly over their support to conceal evidence related to Wickrematunge’s murder.

Defence sources also said as to how the Kalubowila JMO did not submit Wickrematunge’s post mortem report to courts up to 2015 but produced only after the courts instructed him after the fresh probe was initiated last year. “Mt. Lavinia Magistrate in October last year ordered the Kalubowila JMO to produce Wickrematunge’s post mortem report to the courts since the  JMO had failed to produce it since Wickrematunge’s death in January 2009. If there wasn’t any interference, the JMO could have submitted his report to the courts after the cause of death was substantiated. What made the JMO to delay in producing the report to courts for more than six years? It was the same with rugby player Wasim Thajudeen’s murder as well. It was only after the fall of the Rajapaksa regime Thajudeen case was re-opened. Although Thajudeen died in May 2012, the then Colombo JMO Prof. Ananada Samarasekera did not submit the report until the Colombo Additional Magistrate Nishantha Peiris instructed him,” sources alleged.

File removed from hospital 

Kalubowila JMO has also come under severe criticism for removing Wickrematunge’s file from the Kalubowila hospital when he went on retirement. “If not for the timely decision taken by the CID to obtain two court orders to inspect the Kalubowila hospital and the JMOs residence simultaneously in search of the file, the then JMO Dr. Sunil Kumara would have destroyed the file. As the CID knew that Wickrematunge’s file had been removed by Dr. Kumara, the first team was sent to the Kalubowila hospital while the second team to Dr, Kumara’s residence where the original file was taken to custody from Dr. Kumara’s possession,” sources said.

A number of journalists were murdered, assaulted and some went missing during the previous regime but not a single investigation was conducted although many promises were given to bring the murderers before the law.

The year 2009 began with horrifying events, with state oppression of the media at its highest. Two days before Wickrematunge was assassinated an arson attack was carried out on MTV/MBC network in Depanama Pannipitiya. Following these two incidents, Rivira Editor Upali Tennakoon and his wife were assaulted causing them injuries. In 2007 Deputy Editor and Defence Columnist of The Nation newspaper Keith Noyahr was abducted and assaulted allegedly for insightful reporting on the conflict. So many other journalists were also came under physical attack during that period.

Wickrematunge, was a vocal critic of abuse of power and corruption of the then government, was subjected to intimidation on several occasions. The newspaper was once sealed followed by continuous bomb attacks on the press to stop him from carrying out investigative reporting on nepotism, corruption and abuse of power in the country. It was not a secret that The Sunday Leader under Wickrematunge became the biggest threat to Rajapaksa regime which was plagued with alleged nepotism, corruption and fraud. Wickrematunge exposed all corruption and fraud one after another.

Failing to stop Wickrematunge from criticising and exposing the politicians for bribery or corruption in the then regime, he was ambushed and stabbed behind his right ear as he drove to work on January eighth, 2009 by his assailants at Attidiya which was within the high security zone and in close proximity to the Ratmalana Air Force base.

Not even three weeks after slaying Wickrematunge, the then Defence Spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella at a media briefing held on January 28, 2009 said that the government was aware of the identity of Wickrematunge’s killers and that then President Mahinda Rajapaksa was anticipating to uncover ‘some very important details’ by February 15, 2009. However, these ‘very important details’ never came to light although Wickrematunge’s widow Sonali Samarasinghe Wickrematunge repeatedly made written requests to the then President and the then Inspector General of Police (IGP) to get an impartial investigation carried out to arrest the murderers and those who were given orders for the massacre (See box for the letter)
“For Rambukwella to say President Rajapaksa was going to reveal information about the murder means that the then President too knew who were behind the killing as Rajapaksa did not deny Rambukwella’s claim. However although allegations are levelled against the CID for not questioning certain high ranking officials in the present and former regimes, they cannot question them without any concrete evidence. That is why the CID had got the courts to serve court order taking time till the evidences are gathered to prove who and who were directly involved in the murder and who were indirectly involved in the assassination. Once the CID is in receipt of concrete evidence, they will not hesitate to question even higher officials and take the Attorney General’s opinion and arrest the suspects without considering their affiliations to any political party,” sources said.

Meanwhile on Thursday, Anil Perera Counsel appearing for military intelligence officer Premananada Udalagama who is now in remand prison for Wickrematunge’s murder when requested bail from Mt. Lavinia Magistrate when Udalagama was produced in court, ASP CID, B. S. Tissera objected claiming it would be a threat to the witnesses.

ASP Tissera told the Magistrate that Udalagama was in charge of MP Karuna Amman’s security detail at the time of his involvement in abducting a witness and how the then Defence Ministry got a post created for Udalagama in an irregular manner at the Sri Lankan Embassy in Germany on a temporary basis.

According to what ASP Tissera told court objecting bail for Udalagama, he (Udalagama) was having close links to a former top government official and could be a threat to Wickrematunge’s driver who identified Udalagama as his abductor. Since the driver had been accusing the former government official for the alleged murder of his employer, it was Udalagama who had abducted the driver and had threatened him.

It was after this, the Defence Ministry has sent Udalagama to Germany claiming that he is being sent to provide security to a certain official at the Sri Lankan Mission in Germany. Although this particular official came back to Sri Lanka after two years, Udalagama remained in Germany for another two years. The then Chief of National Intelligence at the Ministry of Defence Kapila Hendawithana, meanwhile had made a request to the Foreign Ministry to purchase three tickets for Udalagama’s family-wife and two children to pay a visit to Udalagama in Germany to which the Foreign Ministry has declined. However under extraordinary circumstance, on the directives of a top official, the Foreign Ministry had purchased the air tickets for Udalagama’s family since it was the school vacation for Udalagama’s offspring’s. It was revealed that Udalagama was given a separate apartment in Germany and all his food and lodging was paid by the Sri Lankan government.

ASP Tissera further said as to how the Sri Lanka Army is now conducting an investigation against Udalagama for the disappearance of the daily occurrence book (DOB). When Tissera informed this in court, Udalagama said that he had submitted the DOB to the CID for the investigation and that it was not fair by him for such an allegation. ASP Tissera said that the allegation is leveled against him by none other than by the Army Commander, the CID now considers that the DOB given to them is a fake book but not the authentic book.

Meanwhile Senior Attorney-at-law, Athula S. Ranagala who looks after Wickrematunge family’s interest together with Wickrematunge’s cousin Gemunu de Silva too were amongst the witnesses to the exhumation.

No confidence in investigations

According to Gemunu de Silva, he has no confidence in the investigation process as it had almost taken two years to make a breakthrough in Wickrematunge’s murder case. “When the present government was in opposition, they said that they have all evidence to prove who were behind Lasantha’s murder and promised to bring them to book no sooner they come to power. It is nearly two years but they have yet failed to make a breakthrough. Now Lasantha’s remains were exhumed. As a family member I hope this was not done to get a political mileage but on a genuine purpose. We keep our fingers crossed to see what is going to happen next and hope the perpetrators would be severely dealt with. Since Lasantha associated with Chief Incumbent of Paramananda Purana Viharaya (Pahala Pansala) Ven. Thambawita Wimalawansa Thero from his young days, this monk too came to Lasantha’s gravesite to show his support for the investigations,” De Silva said.

Senior Attorney at law, Athula Ranagala meanwhile said that he is happy the way the investigation is conducted and added that once the Colombo Chief JMO’s report is submitted to courts and if it contradicts with the first autopsy report, it would be easy for the CID to make a breakthrough. It is now confirmed as to how the previous regime had ‘looked after’ the military personnel who helped them in certain favourable ‘missions’. Apart from sending Udalagama to Germany with state expense, Sri Lanka Army in 2010 gave a promotion to military intelligence member Kandegedara Piyawansa just three days after his arrest on a criminal charge- Wickrematunge’s murder. The CID meanwhile unearthed as to how the army has continued to pay Piyawansa’s monthly remuneration even though he was in remand prison. Soon after Piyawansa was granted bail, Sri Lanka Army once again took him to their service without any internal investigation against him which raises eye brows.

“How Piyawansa was involved in stealing Pichchei Jesudasan’s national identity card and obtained five SIM cards under Jesudasan’s name and had allegedly given them to Wickrematunge’s killers are now slowly unfolding. It is believed that this was the reason why the Nuwara Eliya police did not record Jesudasan’s statement when he wanted to complaint about the loss of his identity card. The police too had acted deliberately and we will unearth all these at the very earliest,” sources added.

 

Sonali’s Letter to Mahinda Rajapaksa

April 24, 2009.

BY REGISTERED POST

Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa
President of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka
President’s Office
Colombo 1.

Dear Mr. President,

The Assassination of
Lasantha Wickrematunge

As you are aware, on the morning of 8 January, 2009 my husband, Mr Lasantha Wickrematunge, one of Sri Lanka’s best-known journalists and Editor-in-Chief of The Sunday Leader newspaper, was brutally slain as he travelled to work.

It is no secret that Lasantha and I were the biggest irritants to your government. While you were still prime minister in 2005, I exposed the Helping Hambantota scandal, in which millions of rupees donated to the government for tsunami relief had mysteriously found their way into a private bank account controlled by you. Shortly after that exposé, on October 16, 2005 The Sunday Leader and Morning Leader presses were attacked and severely damaged. The perpetrators of this crime were never brought to book and there was never a serious police investigation.

In September 2005 we reported a suspected plot to attack our newspaper offices following an incident in which a group of thugs entered the premises of the press and recorded the license plate numbers of vehicles parked in it. Lasantha lodged a complaint with the Mt Lavinia police and also informed the Inspector General of Police of the incident. No action was taken.

On the morning of January 11, 2006 you were quoted publicly as having threatened Lasantha’s life. The words alleged to have been used by you in a telephone conversation recorded by him (in addition to statements that propriety prevents me from quoting here), included the following:

“I will show you what it is to be scared. I will rest only once I have destroyed you. You wait and see. You don’t know who Mahinda Rajapaksa is.”

“I will finish you!”

“I treated you well all this while. Now I will destroy you. You don’t know who Mahinda Rajapaksa is. You watch what I will do to you!”

Had these threats been made by an ordinary citizen, they would have been sufficiently serious as to warrant immediate police inquiry. When made by the President, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces and Minister of Defence (and therefore the police), they attain an altogether more sinister significance. What is more, neither you nor your office has ever been able to deny having spoken these words or explain them in a different context to that which ordinary people are likely to infer: a threat against the life of a journalist who had been critical of you and your administration.

Despite your threats and the physical attacks on him and the newspapers we edited, we did not run scared. We continued to expose one scandal after another in your government, ranging from graft and corruption to wastage of public funds and gross excesses on the part of yourself and your brothers.

No one can pretend that the Leader newspapers were singled out as a special case. Under your presidency, violence against journalists has become commonplace. Your government has been forced publicly to accept in parliament that nine journalists have been murdered in Sri Lanka during the past two years of your presidency. International agencies put this figure at 16. Dozens of others have disappeared, suffered physical assault, been arbitrarily detained without trial or been forced to flee overseas for fear of their lives. Numerous other media institutions have been violently attacked in commando-style raids and, in some cases, their employees slaughtered in cold blood.

Just two days before Lasantha’s murder, MTV, arguably Sri Lanka’s only independent television station, was attacked by a squad of some 20 militia armed with assault weapons and explosives. A week later, Mr Chevaan Daniel, the News Director of MTV television station, of which your brother, Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rakapaksa has been viciously critical, was publicly branded on national television as a “terrorist” by your brother, who also announced his imminent arrest. Mr Daniel’s “crime” in your brother’s eyes had been to provide a description of the commando attack to a CNN interviewer. Never in the history of Sri Lanka has a government so ruthlessly suppressed media freedom and political dissent.

It is a tragic irony that Colombo, where most crimes against the media have taken place, is under the strictest security and surveillance, unparalleled in the history of our country. Police checkpoints are everywhere, and it is impossible for an ordinary citizen to travel more than a few hundred metres without having to stop, identify himself and be searched. Yet, bands of heavily armed militia are able to roam the streets with impunity, killing journalists and dissidents, and attacking media institutions.

Mr President, it does not need me to remind you that not in a single one of the attacks on the media catalogued above has there been a serious investigation. Neither have charges been framed against anyone. Yet, in the aftermath of most of them, you have unctuously promised thorough, impartial inquiries. It is difficult to escape the conclusion that your words amount to little more than sanctimonious humbug.

Indeed, it is no secret that your administration is prosecuting an undeclared war of terror on the independent media, and in the eyes of many, you and your brothers have blood on their hands.

With a cynicism that has become your hallmark, you have gone on television to claim that Lasantha was murdered by persons unknown in an international conspiracy to distract attention from the military victories of your government. Possibly there are those gullible enough to believe you; but be assured that the vast majority of free-thinking Sri Lankans reject such puerile claims with the contempt they deserve.

Unless you ensure there is a thorough and impartial investigation, it will be difficult to avoid the public perception that you and members of your family may be complicit in this crime. You will agree that the president, as the First Citizen of our country, should be above reproach and attract the unqualified respect and affection of all citizens. Such ideals have, however, in the Sri Lanka over which you preside, become a joke.

It is more than passing strange that the evening news broadcast of the government-owned ITN television channel on the day of Lasantha’s murder made no mention of the assassination despite it having been by any yardstick the top story of the day, as indeed it was on most international news services. Indeed, national and international interest in and outrage at this crime is evidenced if by nothing else, by the fact that Lasantha’s name now scores more than five times as many hits on Google as does that of the prime minister of Sri Lanka. Even the news editors of ITN, therefore, appear to have concluded that the government was responsible and sought to hush the matter up.

The other state media were little different: they relegated the story to a footnote at best. Lasantha’s funeral too, was boycotted by the entire government, despite many of its members, including yourself, being known to have been closely associated with him. Clearly, even your ministers had arrived at their own conclusions on the matter. Finally, the Dean of the diplomatic corps in Colombo, German Ambassador Jürgen Weerth, a personal friend of Lasantha’s, had been censured by the Foreign Ministry for making a completely appropriate and uncontroversial oration at the funeral. All these serve to send a clear message to the police that the government has a vested interest in seeing the inquiry fail.

The most obvious steps that should be taken in such an inquiry have not been taken. For example, although the type of motorcycles the assailants used has been identified, no public appeal has been made to establish their whereabouts on the morning of the assassination. Further, despite the nature of the murder weapon being known, to everyone it seems, but the police, no description or illustration of it has been published via the print or electronic media, calling for information from the public, who may know who possessed or manufactured such a weapon. There are ample grounds to suspect therefore, that the government has embarked on a cover up. So terrified are the independent media of the violence your government is capable of unleashing against them that they dare not call you to account even in cases where media workers have been the victims. As much as you and your brothers talk of a “war on terror”, Mr President, it is against free expression and dissent that your regime has unleashed a war of terror of the most hideously ruthless proportions.

On 28 January, 2009, your cabinet’s Defence Spokesperson the Hon. Keheliya Rambukwella, stated at a media briefing that the government was aware of the identity of Lasantha’s murderers, and that you intended to personally expose “some very important details” on 15 February, 2009. On 15 March, I wrote to your Inspector General of Police, Mr. Jayantha Wickremaratna, asking that he record a statement from Mr. Rambukwella on his knowledge of the perpetrators of Lasantha’s killing.

Your Police Spokesperson, Senior Superintendant Ranjith Gunasekera who claimed that “there is no necessity” to retrieve evidence that a cabinet minister has relating to the identity of murderers, going as far as to say that it is “not the duty of the police to do so.” This statement has not been contradicted by this Senior Superintendent of your Police force or anyone else in the month since it was published in The Sunday Leader.

Mister President, I find this statement by the police astonishing. As a lawyer yourself, you should know that not only is it the right of the police to question a minister on a public statement that may lead to the apprehension of a criminal, but it is the duty of the police under the law of the land to pursue every avenue and question all those who may have, are perceived to have and claim publicly to have, knowledge pertaining to a murder investigation. That, at any rate, used to be the case prior to your becoming president.

In an interview with the BBC’s Chris Morris your brother, Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse, giggled hysterically when asked about my husband’s murder, and made very clear that he was “not concerned” by the killing. Your brother also famously asked “who is Lasantha?” Why is he so important in contrast to those killed by the LTTE? “He was just someone writing to a tabloid.” These are words uttered, Mr. President by the man under whose purview your entire police operates.

Mr. Gotabaya Rajapakse dismissed Lasantha’s killing stating that anyone could have killed him given that he picked up a number of enemies in the course of his career as a journalist. What is implied by this oft repeated statement of your brother is that journalists who criticize abuse of power by the state should accept their fate without protest.

It may be reasonably deduced from your brother’s public pronouncements that he demonstrates a singular disregard for even the most basic principles of democracy and the rule of law. Despite the high office to which you have elevated him, he apparently does not feel it is either his responsibility or his duty to curb or remonstrate those who act against the media with criminal impunity. Indeed, your brother has made it a habit publicly to brand as “tiger terrorists” or “traitors” journalists whom he perceives as critical of your administration. In that infamous BBC interview with Chris Morris after Lasantha’s murder, he confirmed the free media’s worst fears by admitting that the Defence Ministry considered dissent during war time was tantamount to treason, and thereby presumably punishable with death. What is the message this widely publicized statement sends to the officers of the four police teams you claim to have appointed to probe my husband’s murder?

Lasantha made no secret of the fact that his life would be taken. He wrote and spoke about it widely. He also predicted that your government would never bring his murderers to book. After all, he knew that your government has never prosecuted anyone for the murders, attempted murders and assaults on dissident journalists. After all, he knew as well as you who is behind these crimes. Yet you, as Minister of Defence, remain responsible for the police and therefore the successful investigation of these cases.

As late in the day as it is, given that it is clear that the police inquiry into this crime has now been effectively derailed, I call upon you to invite an international inquiry with a view to identifying and bringing those responsible to justice. I have no doubt that should you agree, the governments of the world’s leading democracies, including those of the EU, USA and India, will readily agree to second the relevant experts and detectives and ensure that the assailants are brought to book.

In the alternative, and especially because none of the many other attacks on the media during your presidency have benefited from a successful criminal inquiry, it will be difficult in the extreme to dispel the nagging doubt that many people seem to entertain that the trail of culpability for these crimes leads to the very highest echelons of your government.

I look forward to your swift and positive action in this regard.

With kind regards,

Yours sincerely,

Sonali Samarasinghe Wickrematunge

Cc. Ms. Navanethem Pillay, High Commissioner for Human Rights, United Nations
Cc. Mr. Brad Adams, Asia Director, Human Rights Watch
Cc. Mr. Bob Dietz, Asia Program Coordinator, Committee to Protect Journalists
Cc. Mr. Vincent Brossel, Asia Director, Reporters Without Borders
Cc. Mr. Gareth Evans, President, International Crisis Group
Cc. Ms. Irene Khan, Secretary General, Amnesty International
Cc. Mr. David Dadge, Director, International Press Institute