(FMM/IFEX) – The following is a 2 October 2006 FMM press release: Journalist Sampath Lakmal’s killers at large – Police investigations fail to produce any suspects Journalist Sampath Lakmal was killed three months ago, on 1 July 2006. The Free Media Movement (FMM) expresses its disappointment that, even after three months, on-going police investigations have […]
(FMM/IFEX) – The following is a 2 October 2006 FMM press release:
Journalist Sampath Lakmal’s killers at large – Police investigations fail to produce any suspects
Journalist Sampath Lakmal was killed three months ago, on 1 July 2006. The Free Media Movement (FMM) expresses its disappointment that, even after three months, on-going police investigations have failed to bring any suspects to the courts.
Although the courts have also raised this issue, so far no progress has made by the police. Sampath Lakmal’s mother has provided the police with all known details of what happened on that fatal night. Some newspapers reported that Sampath Lakmal went out to meet someone he called “Kumar sir”, after he received a phone call from this unidentified person.
The lack of progress in police investigations signals that with the passage of time, the murder of Sampath Lakmal may soon be forgotten by authorities. Nearly all those responsible for the recent murders of media personnel are still at large. Instead of justice and due process, a growing culture of impunity is now the norm in Sri Lanka, strengthening human rights violators and oppressors of media freedom.
The FMM demands that the government urgently accelerate the process to identify Sampath Lakmal’s killers and hold them accountable for their actions. Failing this, promises by the government to impartially investigate the murder of journalists, and to identify suspects to the courts, ring hollow and are a somber indication of the breakdown of media freedom and human rights in Sri Lanka.
