Lasantha Wickrematunge

Lasantha Manilal Wickrematunge (ලසන්ත වික්‍රමතුංග, லசந்த விக்கிரமதுங்க; 5 April 1958 – 8 January 2009) was a high-profile Sri Lankan journalist, politician, broadcaster and human rights activist who was assassinated in January 2009.

Wickrematunge was the founder of The Sunday Leader newspaper and Leader Publications and was a virulent critic of the Mahinda Rajapaksa government, and had been locked in a legal battle with Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who was defence secretary at the time and was spearheading the battle against the LTTE rebels.

His assassination sent shockwaves across the country, as he was one of the nation's most influential journalists and most well known political figures and raised questions about freedom of expression in the country.

Wickrematunge's murder was widely condemned across the world.

The Daily Mirror called it the "biggest blow" to media freedom in Sri Lanka, and the Editors Guild held the government responsible for the killing as it has failed to stop attacks against media personnel.

The government also expressed shock at the killing, pledging to do everything in its power to catch his killers.

Wickrematunge contested in the 1989 Parliamentary election from a Colombo seat with the Sri Lanka Freedom Party and then became the private secretary to the world's first female Prime Minister, Sirimavo Bandaranaike.

Wickrematunge then crossed parties moving to the United National Party and was advisor to Ranil Wickremasinghe.

In 1994 Wickrematunge started the Sunday Leader with his brother Lal Wickrematunge.

From 1994-2005, Wickrematunge was an ardent critic of the Chandrika Kumaratunga government.

Wickrematunge had been on Amnesty International's endangered list since 1998, when anti-tank shells were fired on his house.

Lasantha Wickrematunge was the youngest of six born in Kotahena Colombo, to Chandra and Harris Wickrematunge, a prominent politician, who had served as a Municipal Councillor for 30 years

and was former Deputy Mayor.

Wickrematunge was the grandnephew of George E. de Silva and Agnes de Silva, cousin of Minnette de Silva, Fredrick de Silva and Desmond de Silva.

In his childhood, Wickrematunge attended St Benedict's College.

He spent his adolescence in Britain, where he graduated high school and eventually returned to Sri Lanka, where he started law school.

Wickrematunge began his career as a lawyer, practicing as a defense attorney for eight years under Ranjit Abeysuriya.

Whilst practicing law, Wickrematunge made his way into the political scene before entering into Journalism starting with The Island and Sun newspapers.

In 2000, Wickrematunge conducted an investigation into Kumartunga’s education qualifications.

Kumaratunga’s curriculum vitae had stated that she was an alumni of the Sorbonne University.

Wickrematunge challenged Kumaratunga to release her documentations of certification and went on to publish a letter from the university that stated Kumaratunga was never registered as a student.

In May 2000, the government of Kumaratunga closed down the Sunday Leader after military setbacks in the war against Tamil insurgents in the north of the country.

Wickrematunge filed a fundamental rights application with the Supreme Court, fought the closure and secured a court victory striking down the law allowing government to curb the fourth estate.

In addition to Sunday Leader, Wickrematunge was the Editorial Board Director for the Sinhalese Sunday newspaper Iruresa (launched 2004) and the Wednesday English paper Morning Leader (launched 2005).

All three were severely critical towards the government.

He reported critically on both the government and the Tamil Tiger (LTTE) rebels, and the Leader soon became “well known as the island's best independent newspaper". He later stated that once the paper was started, he had intended to return to Law, but found himself unwilling to give up Journalism's excitement. He was also a Writer for Time magazine at this time and was a political commentator while he hosted his broadcast programs including Good Morning Sri Lanka.

At the height of his career Wickrematunge was feared by senior ministers and the most powerful in the nation and political leaders on both sides at various times sought to persuade Wickrematunge into accepting political positions by offering him ministries of his choice.

The paper quickly drew threats and attacks for its reporting on corruption by government ministers.

In 2006, after Kumaratunga was ousted as President, she went on to form a friendship with Wickrematunge.

In the final stages of the civil war, Wickrematunge was a key figure in the human rights movement.

Wickrematunge was known for his trademark phrase “unbowed and unfafraid” inspired from the Invictus poem by William Ernest Henley which he used as his motto and philosophy.

Wickrematunge was vocal about his frustrations by the issues faced by vulnerable populations and expressed his agitation against state terrorism.

In addition to his contributions to marginalized communities, Wickrematunge actively spoke out against Sri Lanka’s poverty and economic inequality.

Wickrematunge largely impacted his Tamil audience who felt he supported and articulated their issues.

The Leader was particularly critical in its coverage of President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

In 2008, Mahinda Rajapaksa, furious over the paper's reporting, called Wickrematunge and shouted at him that he would be killed if the paper's coverage did not change; the president had also described him as a "terrorist journalist".

In the weeks before Wickrematunge's death, a funeral wreath was delivered to him, as well as a copy of the newspaper reading "If you write you will be killed" in red paint.

Wickrematunge was quoted as saying “The word fear is not in my vocabulary." Not wanting to endanger anyone else, Wickrematunge continuously refused to hire a bodyguard.

After the assassination of Wickrematunge, Leader Publications was sold over to a Rajapaksa associate and an unconditional apology was made to Gotabaya Rajapaksa for publishing a series of reports suggesting that he had made corrupt arms deals.

During the early 90s Wickrematunge hosted several popular Broadcast Television Talk Shows.