“In 2011, Sri Lanka ranked fourth worst in the world in terms of allowing murders of journalists to go unpunished, according to our global Impunity Index. As we noted in our report, "President Mahinda Rajapaksa has presided over a dark era of targeted media killings and complete law-enforcement failure in addressing the crimes. All nine journalist murders in the past decade have gone unsolved, leaving persistent questions as to whether authorities have been complicit in some of the crimes."
“The result of all this mayhem is that Sri Lanka's independent media has been largely restrained, though voices still speak out on occasion. The government's attempt to rewrite the history of one of the most brutal civil conflicts in modern times has been challenged, but not yet discredited, by any independent international body of any stature.
In that context, the January 2009 murder of Lasantha Wickramatunga and the January 2010 unexplained disappearance of Prageeth Eknelygoda are only two way-points along Sri Lanka's route to abandonment of its international standing as a country with a rule of law. And, of course, a free press.”
- Committee to Protect Journalists Asia Program Director Bob Dietz writing in the CPJ Blog. See his full piece here.
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