Colombo TelegraphFEBRUARY 24, 2012
By Colombo Telegraph -
KT Rajasingham
The Court of Appeal found that the Asian Tribune Editor KT Rajasingham and the World Institute for Asian Studies are liable for gross defamation of NORWAY NEWS journalist Nadarajah Sethurupan through the articles published on the Asian Tribune website. The Court of Appeal upheld the District Court’s decision to order Rajasingham and the World Institute for Asian Studies Institute to pay to NORWAY NEWS journalist Nadarajah Sethurupan SEK 125,000 (about USD 20,000) plus interest from 2 November 2005.
Swedish Svea Court of Appeal today gave its judgment in the case between Sethurupan and Rajasingham and the World Institute for Asian Studies.
According to the documents submitted to the courts, the World Institute for Asian Studies Institute runs by following individuals; K.T Rajasingham – Chairman and Chief Executive, R. Tharshany – Secretary, V. Rajeny – Treasurer, d Ekemini Ebiwok – Committee member and the committee co-opted the following members as the committee members; H.L.D. Mahindapala – Melbourne Australia, T. Sritaharan – Massachusetts and Daya Gamage – Nevada USA. Other members of the organisation are Guy Gallahan, Ms. R. Tharany, N. Kodituwaku, Ms Tharshany R., Mrs NAgaledchumy Rajasingham, Piratheepan Rajalingam, Philip Fernando, Summane Liyanarachchi and Leel Pathirana.
Talking to the Colombo Telegraph Nadarajah Sethurupan said “When I was in Oslo 2003/2004, Mr.KT.rajasingahm called me and asked me to work with his secrete network to attack Norwegian peace process in Sri Lanka, He asked me to write against to Norwegian Official and SLMM and their peace effort in Sri Lanka. He asked me to work together with him and his hidden unit to attack Norwegian involvement in Sri Lanka. I refused all that then he and his hidden group branded me as a “terrorist” and started attacking me on media as a member of LTTE from 2005 till 2008.”
Nadarajah Sethurupan
“I sent many email and asked him to stop writing against to me but not stopped. each and every time I made complaint to UK, Norway, Sweden, Police and Intelligence service and then took legal action to safer my life from this dangerous game.” he further said.
The Court of Appeal also confirmed that Nadarajah Sethurupan is entitled to compensation for financial losses incurred as a result of the gross defamation in an amount to be determined later.
The Court of Appeal ordered Asian Tribune Editor KT Rajasingham and the World Institute for Asian Studies to pay for the costs for translating the judgements by the Court of Appeal and of the District Court (comprising 10 and 22 pages respectively) into English and for the costs for publishing such authorized translations of the judgments in a Sri Lankan newspaper with nation-wide distribution.
The Court of Appeal did not uphold the District Court’s decision to order Rajasingham and the World Institute for Asian Studies to publish a web-link to the judgment and a translation thereof into English on the front page of the Asian Tribune website. According to the Court of Appeal there is no statutory basis for such an order under Swedish law in this case.
The Court of Appeal ordered Rajasingham and the World Institute for Asian Studies to compensate the Swedish state and Sethurupan for their litigation costs.
Lawyer in Sweden Mr.Niclas Carlsson appeared on behalf of journalist Nadarajah Sethurupan. According to him this is the highest Court sentence for defamation in Swedish history. In previous Swedish defamation cases no more than SEK 100,000 have been granted. The Swedish Supreme Court granted that amount in a landmark case to a previous Swedish prime minister and other well known Swedish people who had been portrayed as being promiscuous in a magazine. The Swedish district and appeal courts have before the Asian Tribune case not exceeded the amount granted by the Swedish Supreme Court in that case.
The Court of Appeal’s judgment may be appealed to the Swedish Supreme Court no later than 23 March 2012.
The Judgement;
