{"id":96687,"date":"2019-12-20T13:54:22","date_gmt":"2019-12-20T20:54:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=96687"},"modified":"2019-12-20T13:54:22","modified_gmt":"2019-12-20T20:54:22","slug":"false-complaint-made-by-the-swiss-embassy-in-sri-lanka-to-tarnish-the-image-of-the-government-and-the-people-of-sri-lanka","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2019\/12\/20\/false-complaint-made-by-the-swiss-embassy-in-sri-lanka-to-tarnish-the-image-of-the-government-and-the-people-of-sri-lanka\/","title":{"rendered":"False complaint made by the Swiss embassy in Sri Lanka to tarnish the image of the government and the people of Sri Lanka."},"content":{"rendered":"

Ranjith Soysa Spokesperson \u2013 SPUR , Victoria<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

We refer to a recent statement made by the Swiss\nFederal Department of  Foreign Affairs\nalleging that due process was not followed by the Sri  Lankan law enforcement authorities when\ninvestigating the alleged abduction of an employee of the Swiss embassy,\nGarnier Banister Francis aka Sriyalatha Perera. If the accusation is about not\nfollowing due process\u201d let us remind the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign\nAffairs about what the Good Book says\n You hypocrite, first remove the beam out of your own eye, and then you can see clearly to remove the speck out of your brother’s eye\u201d<\/strong> What the Swiss government defines as due process\u201d\nis clearly not what we define to be the same. There definitely is a problem\nregarding due process\u201d here!!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Continuing on the above topic, was  due process\u201d followed when the Swiss government granted asylum\nto a criminal Nishantha de Silva Candappa, wanted by our government for\nsmuggling sensitive information which compromises national security of our\ncountry? The answer clearly is NO. The abduction\u201d drama was crafted by the\nSwiss embassy as a smoke screen to divert attention from this illegal and\nhostile act by the Swiss Government. Now that this entire Mock Drama\u201d has\nblown up in the  face of the Swiss government, just stay\nsilent rather than damaging the credibility of the Swiss authorities, if there is any left at\nall.  
\n
\nThe allegations are in relation to the interrogation of the alleged victim for\n30 hours over 3 days  which the Swiss allege was done when she was not\nwell and to statements made by officials while the  investigation was in progress.
\n
\nThe Swiss government needs to be reminded that it was the Swiss embassy and the\nSwiss Foreign Office who (A)  \ndidn’t follow due process by not making a formal complaint to the Sri\nLanka Police,  ( B) by not co-operating\nwith the Sri Lanka Police until a court order was issued asking for the alleged\nvictim to make a statement to the Sri Lanka Police. It is also alleged that the\nSwiss Ambassador to Sri Lanka has not surrendered the alleged victim’s mobile\nphone to the Sri Lanka police.
\n
\nThe Swiss government also wanted to use an air ambulance to evacuate the\nalleged victim to Switzerland  stating that the alleged victim\u2019s health\nwas deteriorating. They “concluded” that as her health was\ndeteriorating hence that she was not in a fit state to give a statement to\nthe  police.  According to the Swiss government, a Swiss\ndoctor had made an assessment by examining the alleged victim via a video link.\nThis action too was highly irregular and cannot be considered as being one that\nwas in accordance with due process as it is only a Sri Lankan  judicial medical officer who is legally\nempowered to determine the  fitness of a\nperson to participate in a judicial process. In this instance the Swiss\ngovernment has arrogated to itself powers that are vested in the government of Sri\nLanka.
\n
\nSubsequently it was determined by a Sri Lankan judicial medical officer that\nshe was in a fit state to be interviewed by the police.
\n
\nIn complete contrast to the Swiss government, the Sri Lankan government\nstrictly followed due process and desisted from commenting on a recent\njudgement by a Swiss court where the court determined that the LTTE couldn’t be\ncategorised as a criminal organisation. This is despite the judgement which is\nhighly questionable as the LTTE is a \nbanned terrorist organization worldwide  and is viewed as very detrimental to the national\ninterests of Sri Lanka.
\n
\nThe Swiss government should take note that the best way for them to ensure that\ndue process is followed is by not acting like an imperial power and by stopping\ntheir interference in the internal affairs of Sri Lanka and by respecting the\nsovereignty of Sri Lanka, by abiding by the laws of Sri Lanka and by fully\nco-operating with the Sri Lankan law enforcement and judicial authorities.
\n
\nIn short, the Swiss authorities should allow the Sri Lankan law to take it’s\nnatural course without attempting to subvert it as they are attempting to do\ncurrently. State Secretary\nPascale Baeriswyl has said Switzerland takes its responsibilities to its staff\nvery seriously. Then we suggest you replace the present staff members who were\ninvolved in this comedy of errors\u201d with more sensible people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yours sincerely,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ranjith Soysa
\nSpokesperson \u2013 SPUR , Victoria<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ranjith Soysa Spokesperson \u2013 SPUR , Victoria We refer to a recent statement made by the Swiss Federal Department of  Foreign Affairs alleging that due process was not followed by the Sri  Lankan law enforcement authorities when investigating the alleged abduction of an employee of the Swiss embassy, Garnier Banister Francis aka Sriyalatha Perera. If […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,123],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-96687","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","category-ranjith-soysa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96687","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\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96687"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96687\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96687"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96687"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96687"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}