Colombo: A Sri Lankan court said that it would hear a petition challenging presidential hopeful Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s citizenship. The court of appeal set a hearing for Wednesday on a petition filed by two civil activists who claim that Gotabaya has not lawfully obtained his Sri Lankan citizenship after living in the US for many years.
On Monday, Lanka’s Court of Appeal set up a three-judge panel to hear the case. War-time Defence Secretary Gotabaya had been a “dual citizen” of Sri Lanka and the US, until he reportedly renounced the latter some months ago, ahead of his presidential bid. Sri Lankan law bars those holding citizenship abroad from contesting for presidency. Early August, the local business newspaper published a report pointing to questions over the validity of Gotabaya’s Sri Lankan citizenship documentation.
Subsequently, activists Gamini Viyangoda and Chandraguptha Thenuwara complained to the Inspector General of Police (IGP), seeking an investigation into the matter. Probing the complaint, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) recently informed the Colombo Chief Magistrate’s Court that Immigration and Defence Ministry authorities claimed they do not have records substantiating Gotabaya’s dual citizenship.
Presidential contest
Commenting on the development, Keheliya Rambukwella, a spokesman for Gotabaya, said their side was certain of winning the case. “This only goes to show that they [ruling party] are really threatened by his candidacy, his reach and popularity. It is hilarious,” he said.
Sri Lanka will go to polls on November 16, and Gotabaya, representing the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), is among the main candidates in the fray, along with the ruling United National Party’s Sajith Premadasa, the leftist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna’s Anura Kumara Dissanayake and former Army commander Mahesh Senanayake, fielded by a broad civil society coalition.
