Slain ‘Sunday Leader’ editor Lasantha Wickramatunga is being remembered today (08) on his 15th death anniversary.
A remembrance event, comprising a mass, was due to take place at his burial place, Borella cemetery, at 9.00 am.
Wickramatunga was killed by unidentified persons at Attidiya in Dehiwala on 08 January 2009.
The killers are yet to be ascertained.
Six years after the killing, his remains were exhumed on 27 September 2016 and a new inquest took place.
Its determination was that he died from injuries to the head and brain from an unspecified weapon, and not due to gunshot wounds, the CID informed courts on 20 March 2017.
Investigations also revealed that Army intelligence members had frequented his office a day prior to his killing, the CID said, adding that statements had been recorded from 950 persons, including 295 Army intelligence members.
Crimes OIC of Mt. Lavinia police at the time, Tissa Sugathapala, was arrested in 2018 for allegedly concealing evidence in the murder, but got bailed out later.
In April 2019, the journalist’s daughter, Ahimsa, filed a civil plaint in a US court, accusing former defence secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa of being responsible for the killing of her father.
