“First, the bizarre: In a tactic we have seen in other countries, the government has used a low-level ally to question the validity of claims made by Sandhya Eknelygoda that her husband, cartoonist Prageeth Eknelygoda, is feared dead after vanishing in January 2010, two days before the elections that swept Rajapaksa to power. Prageeth Eknelygoda is alive and well, according to MP Arundika Fernando, who spoke in Parliament on Wednesday. CPJ regularly deals with allegations like this: A government ally will state publicly and provocatively that demands by spouses or other family members for information about the fate of their loved ones are a ruse. The families’ demands drag on publicly; their moral stature reaches uncomfortable heights; and the government decides to try to undercut them.”
Via: http://www.cpj.org/blog/2013/06/sri-lanka-looks-for-new-ways-to-crush-independent.php
Source: Committee to Protect Journalist (via Lanka Solidarity)