Sri Lanka: media worker arrested following military complaint
Event- Country
- Sri Lanka
- Initial Date
- Mar 5, 2024
- Event Description
Sri Lankan authorities must immediately drop their investigations into journalists G.P. Nissanka and Bimal Ruhunage and allow them to report without fear of reprisal, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday.
On the evening of March 5, officers with the Sri Lanka police service’s Criminal Investigation Department arrested G.P. Nissanka, owner and editor of the news site Ravana Lanka News, from his home in the Pallebedda area of the southern Sabaragamuwa Province, according to news reports and the Media Organizations Collective, a group of Sri Lankan organizations advocating for press freedom and freedom of expression.
Amila Egodamahawatta, Nissanka’s lawyer, told CPJ that the journalist was held in police remand until he was released on bail March 20. His mobile phone, seized during his arrest, remains in police custody as of Friday, Egodamahawatta said.
Nissanka’s arrest followed a complaint by Vikum Liyanage, commander of the Sri Lankan army, after Ravana Lanka News published an article accusing the commander of corruption and malfeasance.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention
- Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression
- Online
- Right to liberty and security
- Freedom of expression
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Event Location
Latitude: 6.481965914532253
Longitude: 80.70744063036535
- Event Location
- Summary for Publications
On 5 March 2024, G. P. Nissanka, media worker, was arrested by the police and held in prison for two weeks, following a complaint filed by a military commander whose the media worker wrote an article about corruption in Pallebedda, in Sri Lanka.