CPJ welcomes arrests over SL journalist’s disappearance

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalist (CPJ) has appreciated Colombo for arresting five army officers and two civilians in connection with disappearance of a journalist in 2010.

Prageeth Eknelygoda, a political cartoonist and columnist, went missing days before the 2010 presidential elections.

The arrests come following a pledge by current president Maithripala Sirisena, who defeated Rajapaksa earlier this year, to reopen the investigation into Eknelygoda’s case.

“We are encouraged by progress in the case of Prageeth Eknelygoda. If the government of president Maithripala Sirisena resolves the journalist’s disappearance, the Eknelygoda family will finally be able to find some closure in their long search for justice,” Bob Dietz, CPJ’s Asia programme coordinator, said in a statement on Monday.

Still, he pointed out, Eknelygoda’s case is only one.

At least nine journalists were reportedly murdered in direct relation to their work under the leadership of Mahinda Rajapaksa, first as prime minister and then as president.

“It is important for the new government to bring all of those killers to justice and break Sri Lanka’s cycle of impunity once and for all,” said the CPJ official.

On Monday the Sri Lankan authorities arrested four army officers, accused of involvement in the disappearance of Prageeth Eknelygoda. Another army officer and two civilians were arrested earlier this month.

CPJ has repeatedly called on Sri Lankan authorities to investigate Eknelygoda’s disappearance and hold the perpetrators to account.

Sri Lanka was ranked fourth on CPJ’s 2014 Impunity Index, which spotlights countries where journalists are slain and their killers go free.