{"id":95988,"date":"2019-12-04T01:25:18","date_gmt":"2019-12-04T08:25:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=95988"},"modified":"2020-02-04T16:00:47","modified_gmt":"2020-02-04T23:00:47","slug":"switzerland-embassy-colombo-just-release-the-sri-lankan-national-kept-inside-embassy-since-25th-nov","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2019\/12\/04\/switzerland-embassy-colombo-just-release-the-sri-lankan-national-kept-inside-embassy-since-25th-nov\/","title":{"rendered":"Switzerland Embassy Colombo \u2013 just release the Sri Lankan National kept inside embassy since 25th Nov"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>All\nrational thinking people are stupefied as to why the Swiss embassy is keeping a\nSri Lankan National inside the embassy compound but asking the GOSL to conclude\nthe investigation into an alleged abduction which has not been officially made\nby the victim. This is a strange situation. We have been reading statements by everyone\nbut the victim. What if the version of the victim is completely different! We\ncan only know what her version is if the embassy simply allows her to leave the\nembassy. Why are they keeping her inside an office since 25<sup>th<\/sup> November?\nIt is now over a week that this lady has not seen her family. This is very\nawkward behavior for a country eternally preaching about human rights! <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Amidst\nall this Sri Lanka\u2019s ambassador is summoned to Berne to explain the factual\ndispute. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Let\u2019s\nget something very clear first:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\nwas the Swiss Foreign Ministry spokesman\nPierre-Alain Eltschinger on 27<sup>th<\/sup>\nNovember 2019 about an incident. All that he said was: the female local recruit\nwas threatened\u201d in order to force her to disclose embassy-related\ninformation\u201d \u2013 detained \u2018against her will\u2019 \u2018on the street\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Switzerland views the incident as a very grave and\nunacceptable attack on one of its diplomatic missions and their\nemployees,&#8221; spokesman says &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2019\/11\/swiss-raise-alarm-attack-sri-lanka-embassy-employee-191128061621424.html\">https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2019\/11\/swiss-raise-alarm-attack-sri-lanka-embassy-employee-191128061621424.html<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That statement did not disclose any detail about her being abducted in a vehicle by unidentified persons which was only included in the statement by the Swiss Embassy Colombo. (pl refer what the Swiss Ministry said and what the Swiss Embassy has said in its official statement) <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Screen-Shot-2019-12-04-at-1.40.32-PM-1024x557.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-95989\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-wordpress wp-block-embed is-type-wp-embed is-provider-colombo-telegraph\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"dNwqhTJhBx\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/abducting-swiss-embassy-employee-official-statement-by-the-embassy-of-switzerland\/\">Abducting Swiss Embassy Employee: Official Statement By The Embassy Of Switzerland<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden;\" title=\"&#8220;Abducting Swiss Embassy Employee: Official Statement By The Embassy Of Switzerland&#8221; &#8212; Colombo Telegraph\" src=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/abducting-swiss-embassy-employee-official-statement-by-the-embassy-of-switzerland\/embed\/#?secret=dNwqhTJhBx\" data-secret=\"dNwqhTJhBx\" width=\"500\" height=\"282\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>So if authorities go by only the Swiss\nForeign Ministry statement \u2013 she was never abducted. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>This means the Swiss Embassy must\nexplain how they included a version that the Swiss Foreign Ministry did not\ninclude!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Obviously\nthe Swiss Mission in Colombo has given various other details and Sri Lankan\nauthorities investigating these have claimed that the timeline and sequence do\nnot match against the details they gave. This was after going through witness accounts,\ntechnical evidence, Uber records, CCTV footage, telephone records and GPS data.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>So when State Secretary Pascale Baeriswyl questions\nSri Lanka\u2019s envoy K. Hettiarachchi &amp; asks him to explain how Sri Lanka\u2019s\nevidence contradicts Switzerland\u2019s version we should be asking is it the first\nversion that she was threatened on the street or the additional versions given\nby the Swiss Embassy or the coterie of other third party versions that Sri\nLanka has to investigate? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\nhttp:\/\/www.adaderana.lk\/news_intensedebate.php?nid=59423\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>If\nSwitzerland has no interest in delaying the investigations why are they not\nreleasing this Sri Lankan National &#8211; first to be medically examined and next to\nhelp file complaint and expedite investigations based on her direct complaint\nand not those of third or fourth parties making statements on behalf of her. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If\nSwitzerland is supporting to settle the matter by due process of law, then why\nis a person kept virtually hostage inside an embassy compound. Not only is this\na mental torture for her having to be stuck inside a small office but she must\nbe traumatized by not seeing her family for over 1 week now. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This\nis quite inhuman of the Swiss authorities who claim her health is deteriorating\nbut will not allow any Sri Lankan doctors to examine her? <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If\nshe was well enough to come to work how can her health fail so suddenly? <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What\nhas happened to her inside the embassy that the Swiss do not wish to tell the\nworld about. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This\nsuspense is only allowing many people to create their own versions which is\nconfusing the investigations further and which is why it requires authorities\nto get her version directly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The\nSwiss Embassy Colombo is behaving very childishly regarding this entire\nincident. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The key to\nthis is that there is a major variance in what the Swiss Foreign Ministry\noriginally said on 27<sup>th<\/sup> November 2019 and the official statement issued\nby the Swiss Embassy Colombo on 29<sup>th<\/sup> November 2019 (5 days after the\nincident) while keeping the local recruit boxed up inside the embassy compound.\n<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>If the Swiss authorities are not allowing any doctors\nto see her at least they should allow the Cardinal to visit her and bless her.<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>But the behavior of the embassy is bordering the\nridiculous and it is more like a hostage situation which is far more worrying\nthan an alleged threatening on the street. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A\nSri Lankan National is being kept inside an embassy compound since 25<sup>th<\/sup>\nNovember and the embassy is refusing to release her and we all want to know\nwhy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Leave aside filing complaint or being\nquestioned, shouldn\u2019t she deserve medical attention and to return to her\nfamily? Why is the Swiss denying this \u2013 her fundamental right? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>More than concluding any investigations, she should get medical assistance and return to the comfort of her home and family. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Shenali D Waduge<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>All rational thinking people are stupefied as to why the Swiss embassy is keeping a Sri Lankan National inside the embassy compound but asking the GOSL to conclude the investigation into an alleged abduction which has not been officially made by the victim. This is a strange situation. We have been reading statements by everyone [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1498,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-95988","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-shenali-waduge"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95988","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1498"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95988"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95988\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95988"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95988"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95988"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}