Former defence secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa praised the ‘respected judiciary’ after the Supreme Court on Wednesday issued an interim order preventing his arrest until his fundamental rights petition is heard.

“I humbly bow my head to the respected Judiciary for their courage to stand up for the truth,” Rajapaksa said on his Facebook page. He also thanked his lawyers Romesh de Silva PC and Ali Sabry PC for defending him when his case was heard.

Rajapaksa insisted that as a Government servant his ‘one and only priority’ was to carry out his responsibilities to the best of his ability.

The former defence secretary thanked the people of Sri Lanka and said he was “grateful for their unwavering love and affection” towards him.

Rajapaksa filed a Fundamental Rights (FR) petition on Monday (11) challenging the legality of the establishment of FCID. Through the petition, Gotabaya Rajapaksa also sought intervention of the Supreme Court to prevent his imminent arrest pending the conclusion of several purported investigations by the Criminal Investigations Department (CID), Bribery Commission and FCID.

The petition will be taken up for consideration on October 6.