Category: Legal

NEW DELHI, February 18, 2014 (AFP) – India’s Supreme Court commuted the death sentences Tuesday for three killers of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, citing delays in the case 23 years after he was assassinated by a Tamil suicide bomber.The top court headed by Chief Justice P. Sathasivam handed the three life in prison on […]

SYDNEY, February 17, 2014 (AFP) – One person was killed and 77 injured during a second night of rioting at an Australian immigration detention centre on Papua New Guinea’s Manus Island, officials said on Tuesday.“I am advised that all staff have been accounted for, our service providers are in control of the centre and there […]

COLOMBO, February 16, 2014 (AFP) – The United Nations’ human rights chief has recommended an international investigation into war crimes committed in Sri Lanka during the final stages of its Tamil separatist conflict, a report said Sunday.The local Sunday Times newspaper in Sri Lanka said Navi Pillay has asked the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) […]

COLOMBO, February 12, 2014 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s police arrested 75 would-be asylum seekers on Wednesday, including nine women and six children, who were trying to leave for New Zealand illegally by boat, police said.The group was arrested in the southern coastal town of Moragolla, the first large-scale arrest of nationals in months after Australia, […]

Gunasekera, Melicia (Mel) – Dearly beloved daughter of Marcus and Manel Gunasekera and loving sister of Dayan died under tragic circumstances. Cortege leaves residence 55/4, Gemunu Mawatha, Sri Subuthipura, Battaramulla at 2.30 pm on February 4, 2014 for service at Our Lady of Fatima Church Battaramulla. Burial will be held at Roman Catholic section of […]

Feb 02, 2014 (LBO) – Mel Gunasekera, a senior Sri Lankan financial journalist and founder editor of Lanka Business Online, was found murdered at her house Sunday, police said.Investigators were working with a bloodstained fingerprint and close-circuit-television-footage, police spokesman SSP Ajith Rohana said. She was alone in the house, in Battaramulla, while her parents and […]

COLOMBO, February 2, 2014 (AFP) – Former Agence France-Presse journalist Mel Gunasekera was stabbed to death on Sunday after a break-in at her family’s home in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo, police said.The body of Gunasekera, who had been working for the international ratings agency Fitch, was discovered by her parents at their house in […]

Feb 02, 2014 (LBO) – A suspect had been arrested over the murder of Mel Gunasekera, a senior financial journalist in Sri Lanka who was current working at Fitch, an international ratings agency.Before joining Fitch Ratings, Gunasekera was at the French News Agency AFP. She was the founder editor of Lanka Business Online and was […]

Jan 29, 2014 (LBO) – Harsha de Silva, an opposition legislator and economist said a person who had accused him of assault had withdrawn a complaint made to the police. The person had alleged that de Silva had hit him on the head after an exchange of words when clearing a bare land near his […]

COLOMBO, January 28, 2014 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s Buddhist hierarchy and other religious leaders accused police Tuesday of failing to prosecute those behind a recent wave of attacks on Christians and Muslims.A multi-religious group led by Buddhist monks said the country had failed to grasp the threat posed by hate speech and attacks because local […]

BOBIGNY, January 14, 2014 (AFP) – A Sri Lankan man wanted on an international arrest warrant for terrorism, was discovered in France by accident, after he walked into a police station to complain about poor working conditions.Jeyanthan Tharmalingam, 35, went last Thursday to give a statement in a case about illegal employment in which he […]

COLOMBO, January 12, 2014 (AFP) – The United States called Sunday for Sri Lanka to investigate rights abuses by security forces after a top envoy completed a fact-finding mission to the island, the US embassy in Colombo said.US State Department war crimes investigator Stephen Rapp “listened to eyewitness accounts about serious human rights abuses” during […]