Assault on journalist and British HC officer : Victims fail to identify attackers | Sunday Observer

Assault on journalist and British HC officer : Victims fail to identify attackers

1 September, 2019

Former journalist Namal Perera and senior British High Commission officer Mahendra Ratnaweera have failed to identify the suspects who brutally assaulted them, 11 years ago, during two separate identification parades within two weeks.

Perera and Ratnaweera were called to the Hulftsdorp Additional Magistrates Court by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) on Thursday (29) to identify one suspect, while the week before they were asked to identify another suspect.

The duo was followed and attacked on June 30, 2008 evening, allegedly by a notorious white van, leaving both severely wounded.

Ratnaweera had picked up his close friend Perera that afternoon and they were on their way home in Ratnaweera’s car when the attack took place. The unidentified group had smashed the car with batons and clubs.

Ironically the attack was reported less than a week since the Rajapaksa regime promised to help journalists as questions were raised on death threats made on journalists.

Earlier in April 2017, Perera was able to identify two suspects from an identification parade consisting of six military intelligence officers, when the Colombo Crime Division summoned him to the Colombo Magistrate’s Court. This was after the police reopened the case on grounds that the assailant squad responsible for the assassination of Sunday Leader editor Lasantha Wickrematunga was also answerable to the attacks on Perera and his associate. Police are conducting further investigations into the assault.

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