“The justice you are waiting will be served to the murdered journalists and to avoid any doubt” the Minister of Mass Media and Health, Nalinda Jayatissa, said that the culprits involved in the murders will be brought to justice regardless of their status.

The Minister of Justice states that the government’s position is that the government has no interest in protecting the accused involved in the murders and that if anyone accuses the Minister of Justice, we will consider it as an accusation against the government. The Minister said that the government’s position is that investigations should be strengthened to expose all the murderers involved in the murders.

The Minister said that the government is of the position that the accused will be prosecuted as revealed in the investigations and that the murderers should be prosecuted correctly.

The Minister emphasized that the Attorney General issued a press release stating that the government’s position on the question you asked, especially the investigations into the murder of journalist Lasantha Wickrematunga, have not yet been concluded and that investigations are underway and that investigations will be conducted as revealed in those investigations.

Minister Nalinda Jayatissa emphasized this during a press conference held at the Government Information Department in Polhengoda on 11 afternoon to inform the Cabinet decisions. Shantha Wijesuriya, a journalist for the Lanka Sky News website, stated that the Attorney General’s decision to release the defendants in the case of the murder of journalist Lasantha was a controversial event in the country.
Like the Attorney General, the Minister of Justice also works to protect his class against public expectations. The Minister of Justice is a former government lawyer in the Attorney General’s Department.
The NPP government’s policy statement, “A rich country, a better life”, has promised to establish a prosecutor’s office. However, with the Attorney General’s recent incident, the Ministry of Justice and National Integration ministry is taking steps to establish this office. What is the purpose of establishing a prosecutor’s offices? Will this bring justice to the journalists who are being murdered and to the people killed in the North by government forces? Responding to the question of what is the role of the Prosecutor’s Office.

The Minister further said:

The establishment of independent prosecution offices is clearly stated in the NPP policy statement. Accordingly, the establishment of prosecution offices is being carried out by the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of National Integration. Its members are the Attorney General or two persons nominated by the Attorney General. The Secretary to the Ministry of Justice, a senior judge with substantial knowledge of the subject of the judicial service and the President of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka or a representative nominated by the President. After preparing the concept paper, it has been planned to obtain the views of civil society organizations and the public.

The Attorney General issued a press release regarding this incident. I have to say when the investigating officers will investigate. Moreover, investigations will be conducted against the individuals involved in these murders. They will be prosecuted as appropriate.

You said that the investigation is not over. Then how did the Attorney General release the suspects in the murder of journalist Lasantha Wickramatunga? The usual method is to release the suspects after the police complete the investigation.s. If the investigations are not over as you say, how did the suspects in the Lasantha murder get released? The NPP government’s policy statement stated that independent prosecutors would be established. The problem is that the prosecutor’s office that the government is going to establish will have two representatives appointed by the Attorney General or the Attorney Generals Department. If the prosecutor’s office is being established as a solution to the problem that has arisen with the Attorney General, the Attorney General will first lose his job. Amal Jayasinghe, a journalist from the French Press Service, asked the Minister two questions about how the prosecutor’s office can obtain support from a questionable person like the Attorney General. 

In response to this the minister said 

The Attorney General or the Attorney General’s Department will not be abolished. Independent prosecutors’ offices are established with the aim of dispensing justice more efficiently than the Attorney General’s Office. Prosecutors’ offices are established to provide maximum service to the people. The office of the Attorney General will not be abolished. The Attorney General and the Attorney General’s Department are represented in the prosecutorial composition. This office can get rid of the allegations against the Attorney General’s Office and provide efficient service to the people. 

125 journalists have been killed since 1980. Does the government know how the families of those journalists survive? No government in power has paid attention to them so far. We request the NPP the government to prepare a relief program for those families, the Minister said in response to a question raised by journalist Anuruddha Lokuhapuarachchi.

There is no such program but ideas and suggestions have come in. A similar program will be developed in the future.