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| Lalith Athulathmudali assassination | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Lalith Athulathmudali after the assassination | |
| Location | Kirulapana, Sri Lanka |
| Date | April 23, 1993 8:10 p.m. (Sri Lanka Time) |
| Target | Lalith Athulathmudali |
Attack type | Automatic 9mm Pistol |
| Deaths | 1 killed (Lalith Athulathmudali) |
| Injured | 1 wounded (Thilak Shantha - Athulathmudali's bodyguard) |
| Perpetrators | Janaka Priyankara Jayamanne alias Wellampitiye Sudu Mahattaya and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam[1] |
Lalith Athulathmudali, the former Cabinet Minister of Trade, National Security, Agriculture, Education and Deputy Minister of Defence of Sri Lanka was killed at 8:10 p.m. Sri Lanka Time (2.10 p.m. UTC) on 23 April 1993 in Kirulapana.[2] Athulathmudali was fatally shot while addressing a gathering, approximately 4 weeks ahead of the Provincial Council elections for the Western Province, May 1993.
The investigation carried out by Sri Lanka Police and Scotland Yard separately concluded that the assassination was carried out by a Tamil youth named Appiah Balakrishnan alias Ragunathan, who was affiliated to LTTE. However these findings were widely disputed by people due to the political context of that time. In 1995, President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga appointed a presidential commission to probe the Athulathmudali assassination, which had been an election promise of her 1994 presidential election campaign. The final commission report submitted on October 7, 1997, pointed the finger at former President Ranasinghe Premadasa (1988–93) and security force personnel who were close to him as directly responsible for the killing of Athulathmudali.[2][3][4] Subsequently, a few security force members and underworld figures were arrested. They were eventually charged with conspiracy, aiding and abetting to commit murder. Three of the accused were killed during prosecution, raising further questions about the assassination. The Lalith Athulathmudali case remains the most controversial political assassination in recent Sri Lankan history.[5]
- ^ Weerasooriya, Sahan. "SRI LANKA'S KILLING FIELD". Retrieved 2020-12-24.
- ^ a b "Sri Lanka: The Untold Story, Chapter 58: Premadasa indicted". Asia Times Online. 2002. Archived from the original on 22 June 2011. Retrieved 2011-06-09.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ "Sri Lanka: Information on whether the police are still seeking the assassins of Lalith Athulathmudali". United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. 1998. Retrieved 2011-06-09.
- ^ Palling, Bruce (April 27, 1993). "Obituary: Lalith Athulathmudali". The Independent. London. Retrieved 2011-06-09.
- ^ Eur (2002). Far East and Australasia. ISBN 9781857431339. Retrieved 2011-06-09.