Sri Lanka’s new government will re-investigate high-profile assassinations, including that of a newspaper editor and politicians during the previous administration that were alleged to have had state backing.
Cabinet Minister Rajitha Senaratne told reporters on Wednesday that new investigations will examine the killings of Lasantha Wickrematunge, editor of the Sunday Leader newspaper, Tamil lawmakers Joseph Pararajasingham and Nadaraja Raviraj, and then-Highways Minister Jeyaraj Fernandopulle.
The lawmakers were critics of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s conduct in the military campaign against separatist Tamil Tiger rebels.
Wickrematunge was a harsh critic of Mr. Rajapaksa and wrote an editorial, which was published posthumously saying the government would kill him one day.
The original investigative cases were heard for years without conclusion.
