Former Rivira Editor Upali Tennakoon who was assaulted by a group in Gampaha in January 2009, said in a Facebook post that he ‘highly doubts that justice will ever be served’ to him. Tennakoon and his wife were attacked two weeks after former Sunday Leader Editor Lasantha Wickrematunge’s assassination. The two cases are not dissimilar in the way the attacks were carried out by those on motorcycles.
The CID arrested suspects in connection with the attack in 2015. At a 2017 identification parade, Tennakoon and his wife identified sergeant-major Premananda Udalagama as the prime suspect. Udalagama was in remand custody for his alleged connection in Wickrematunge assassination.
Tennakoon in the post says, “I highly doubt that justice will ever be served to me. The President speaks in public about the interests of the suspects of these heinous crimes. Only the CID, or perhaps God, knows about the progress of the investigations. At one point, we were asked to submit applications seeking compensation.”
“I too submitted an application thinking the authorities would ‘drop the ball’ if I did not respond to their requests.
But, I did not expect any money from a Government that did not have a genuine political will to prosecute those who were responsible for brutal attacks on journalists.
The attacks turned our lives upside-down. Only a handful of people were concerned about our well-being. Most politicians have even forgotten our names.”
Tennakone who left the country following the attack returned to assist the investigation. Although Tennakone identified one person three others involved in the attack are still at large. Threats to him have not reduced as he returned from the US. However, the investigation seems to be moving at snail’s pace.