The Jaffna Magistrate’s Court has granted permission for former Defence Secretary and former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to provide evidence online in the case concerning the disappearance of Lalith Kumar Weeraraj and Kugan Muruganandan.
The case, relating to the disappearance of Lalith Kumar Weeraraj and Kugan Muruganandan in Achchuveli, Jaffna, on 9 December 2011, was taken up before the Jaffna Magistrate on 2 June.
Rajapaksa had previously argued that appearing physically before the Jaffna Magistrate’s Court would pose a threat to his security. Citing these concerns, he had earlier filed a petition before the Court of Appeal seeking legal relief.
In the petition, he claimed that travelling to Jaffna to testify could expose him to threats from former members of the LTTE and requested to be excused from appearing before the Jaffna Magistrate’s Court.
Following this, the Court of Appeal issued an interim order preventing him from appearing before the Jaffna Court. Subsequently, after he became President in 2019, proceedings involving him were suspended under the constitutional immunity afforded to a sitting President.
However, following his resignation from the presidency in 2022, the immunity ceased to apply, reopening the legal avenue to summon him to provide evidence in the case. Through his lawyers, Rajapaksa informed the Supreme Court that he was prepared to testify before the Magistrate’s Court on 30 July 2025.
Lalith Kumar Weeraraj, an activist of the Frontline Socialist Party, and Kugan Muruganandan disappeared in Jaffna in 2011 while organising a media briefing with family members of persons who had gone missing in the Northern Province.
Relatives of the two men subsequently filed a Habeas Corpus petition through Attorney-at-Law Nuwan Bopage, seeking legal intervention regarding their disappearance. Since Gotabaya Rajapaksa had served as Defence Secretary during the relevant period, the court ordered that he be summoned as a witness to provide information on the prevailing security situation and the disappearances.
When the matter was taken up on 2 June, the Magistrate noted that Rajapaksa was being summoned as a witness and not as a suspect. Taking into account the security concerns raised on his behalf, the court permitted him to provide evidence virtually.
Accordingly, the case will be recalled on 19 June to determine the arrangements for recording his testimony online.
