News
Wijeweera’s wife files petition to locate husband after 29 years
29 Jun, 2018
The wife of the former leader of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), Rohana Wijeweera, today filed a petition in court to locate her husband after 29 years.
Wijeweera’s wife Srimathi filed?habeas corpus petition before the Appeal Court seeking an order for the Government to produce her husband before court or release him.
Srimathi Wijeweera said that her husband was arrested in 1989 but was not heard of since.
Former Defence Secretary General Cyril Ranatunga, former State Minister of Defence Ranjan Wijeratne, General Hamilton Wanasinghe and General Cecil Waidyaratne are among the respondents named in the petition.
On 13 November 1989 Wijeweera was reported to have been shot dead, but the actual circumstances remain a subject of speculation.
Several versions of his death were circulated following the incident. The Sri Lankan Army stated that he had been shot in a confrontation between members of the JVP and the Army when he was taken by the Army under custody to help look at a JVP safe house.
A rumour later circulated that he was taken to a cemetery, shot in the leg and then summarily executed by being burnt alive in the crematorium.
The official line from then Minister of State Defence Ranjan Wijeratne was that Wijeweera and a fellow JVP member H.B. Herath had been taken to the safe house to help the Army locate part of the JVP’s “treasure” and while the search was in progress Herath had pulled out a gun and shot Wijeweera dead. (Colombo Gazette)
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