Stop possible arrest over 2019 attacks

Sri Lanka’s former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa yesterday asked a court to prevent his potential arrest over the Easter Sunday bombings in 2019 that killed 279 people.

A Colombo court imposed a foreign travel ban on Rajapaksa this month, along with two military intelligence officers, pending investigations after he was identified as a “person of interest” in the case.

Rajapaksa’s former intelligence chief, Suresh Sallay, has been detained since February after being accused of orchestrating the 2019 attacks on three hotels and three churches.

A lawyer for Rajapaksa said a petition was lodged with the Court of Appeal over fears that the travel ban was a precursor to the former leader’s arrest.

A hearing date has yet to be fixed. Sallay, a retired major general, was appointed chief of the State Intelligence Service in 2019 immediately after Rajapaksa became president. British broadcaster Channel 4 reported that Sallay was linked to the Islamist bombers.