Hopes fade for justice for dead, lost Sri Lankan journalists

COLOMBO / AP

Activists and relatives say hope is fading fast for the new Sri Lankan government to act against the perpetrators in the killings and disappearances of journalists during the long civil war or the country’s previous administration.
President Maithripala Siriena campaigned on a promise of ending a culture of impunity before he defeated the incumbent Mahinda Rajapaksa in the January 2015 election. Rajapaksa’s nine-year tenure saw dozens of journalists killed, abducted and tortured, forced to disappear or flee the country fearing for their lives. Scores more were killed or disappeared in the civil war that ended in 2009 with the defeat of the Tamil Tiger rebels.
Two years into Sirisena’s presidency, there is little sign that the suspects, mostly military soldiers, will be punished.