International 02 Jun, 2026

Ex-Sri Lanka Prez Rajapaksa allowed to testify online on rights activists' disappearance hearing

Business To Business, Colombo, 2^nd June, 2026:   A court in Sri Lanka on Tuesday permitted former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa to testify via an online link in a case concerning the disappearance of two human rights activists in 2011.
Background of the case
The case relates to the disappearance of:

• Lalith Kumar Weeraraju
• Kugan Muruganandan

The two activists went missing in December 2011 in northern Sri Lanka. Their disappearance has remained one of the country's prominent unresolved human rights cases.
Why Rajapaksa is involved
At the time of the disappearances, Gotabaya Rajapaksa served as the top official in Sri Lanka's Ministry of Defence during the presidency of his brother, Mahinda Rajapaksa.
Given his senior role in the country's security establishment, the court has sought his testimony as part of the proceedings examining the circumstances surrounding the activists' disappearance.
Context of the disappearances
According to reports, Weeraraju and Muruganandan were preparing to hold a press conference in Colombo to draw attention to alleged human rights violations against Tamil civilians following the end of Sri Lanka's civil war in 2009.
The conflict ended with the defeat of the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), but questions about wartime abuses, disappearances, and accountability have continued to be debated domestically and internationally.
Significance
The case is part of broader efforts to investigate allegations of enforced disappearances and human rights violations during the post-war period. Human rights groups have long called for accountability in cases involving missing activists, journalists, and civilians.
The court's decision to allow Rajapaksa to testify remotely may help move forward a case that has remained unresolved for more than a decade, although the judicial process is still ongoing and no conclusions have been reached regarding responsibility for the disappearances.