Sri Lanka: President says he has given the order not to arrest Gotabaya Rajapaksa

The move to arrest Rajapaksa was revealed by President Sirisena in response to a media query at a special President’s House briefing.

( January 27, 2018, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) President Maithripala Sirisena has told Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe that the government shouldn’t move court against wartime Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa or anyone else for that matter unless it was sure of the case.

President Sirisena, who is also the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces revealed that he told the same to IGP Pujith Jayasundera several months ago when he was informed that the police had received instructions to arrest Rajapaksa.

The move to arrest Rajapaksa was revealed by President Sirisena in response to a media query at a special President’s House briefing.

The SLFP leader said that the IGP had contacted him over the phone while Prime Minister Wickremesinghe was away in New Delhi.

President Sirisena said he had repeatedly stressed the need to be sure of cases that were to be filed against the leaders of the previous administration.