Thread by @MarianneDavid24

Just started
#lka #SriLanka #news #media #journalism #JournalismIsNotACrime #DontKillTheMessenger #LasanthaWickrematunge

https://twitter.com/SaferTruth/status/1524645593368387585

"Current events in Sri Lanka make this something that is being watched with hope in your hearts...
It is never too late for justice"
- Leon Willems
#lka #SriLanka #news #media #journalism #JournalismIsNotACrime #DontKillTheMessenger

"It is our collective duty to demand justice for journalist murders
We need a safer world for the truth"

Lasantha's murder had a profound chilling effect on the press in Sri Lanka and shocked the world
Not a single person has been held to account -
Nushin Sarkarati

My father's assassination caused outrage not only in Sri Lanka but across the world
Nothing came of his murder investigation under Rajapaksa Govt
Also was not to be under Yahapalana Govt
For years door has been slammed on families of murdered journalists
@awickrematunge message

Perhaps when the tribunal lays out the full brutal truth of these murders, the bell will finally toll for the murderers - Lasantha Wickrematunge's daughter @awickrematunge
#lka #SriLanka #news #media #journalism #JournalismIsNotACrime #DontKillTheMessenger #LasanthaWickrematunge

Murders are never practically isolated events; they point to deficiency in law and justice
- Dr. Giani Tognoni

Please watch the live hearing here
ptmurderofjournalists.org

#lka #SriLanka #news #media #journalism #JournalismIsNotACrime #DontKillTheMessenger #LasanthaWickrematunge

"The Rajapaksas have come to be identified with human rights violations, allegations of war crimes, and crimes against humanity": Dr. Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu @cpasara123 #lka #SriLanka

"Today country is on its knees. Exchange rate was 180 to $ when GR came to power, now almost 400. We have no fx reserves. Country littered with queues, due to shortages. Ppl have come out & demanded that the Rajapaksas go and bring back alleged national wealth they have stolen"

Before MR resigned, he called supporters to Temple Trees and they made inflammatory speeches. His supporters marched to Galle Face and attacked unarmed, innocent protestors. Public sentiment switched and violence was visited upon Rajapaksa supporters - @PSaravanamuttu

"As a consq. of their greed, insensitivity & arrogance, lack of capacity to understand basic economics & total denial of human rights & tremendous violations of human rights, Rajapaksas have brought #lka to its knees. We cannot resolve this Q without seeing them out of politics"

Above by Dr. Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu, who continues to speak truth to power, despite threats and attempts to silence him. More strength to him.

@cpasara123 @PSaravanamuttu
#lka #SriLanka

"Journalists are under continuous surveillance & if they step out of line, they are brought back in line via threats. Situation re journalism & activism in NE is a lot worse" - Dr. Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu speaking at People's Tribunal on hearing into murder of #lka journalists

Bashana Abeywardena, Convener of JDS @JDSLanka now addressing the People's Tribunal on murder of journalists in Sri Lanka
Watch live

"Impunity is what connects govt after govt in #lka. One govt commits crimes; its successor rewards it with impunity. We haven't seen a single case where State perpetrators have been brought to book & served justice since 70s. There is an obscene underbelly to democracy in SL"

"Biggest organised criminal gang in #lka is the State itself": Bashana Abeywardane, outlining murders of journalists & media workers in #lka. "Since 2004 April, 44 media workers/journos killed or disappeared; in at least 38 cases, perpetrator is State; majority killed are Tamils"

Re self-censorship: "Tamil journalists, unlike those in the south, don't care about the consequences when reporting because they have seen the worst" - Bashana Abeywardane #lka #SriLanka

"Very few journos [in the South] have the guts and the courage to challenge the narrative and write something that goes against State's denials and say the State has committed crimes" - Bashana Abeywardane #lka #SriLanka

"Unfortunately the Judiciary has not played any positive role when it comes to not only crimes against journalists but crimes by the State" - Bashana Abeywardane #lka #SriLanka

"Getting a formal warning is a luxury in #lka. They always come for you; there are no stages to the threats, no formal warnings. Lasantha got used to threatening calls; it becomes part of the profession, but there is always a tipping point" - Bashana Abeywardane #lka #SriLanka

Please watch live proceedings on hearings into journalist killings in Sri Lanka here |

"Tamils have greater issues like war crimes, crimes against humanity & genocide; those won't be incorporated into the ongoing protests because it challenges the official narrative of the war victory. If that happens, it will be a historic moment for #SriLanka: Bashana Abeywardane

Bashana Abeywardane concludes by reading out an utterly heart-reading list of the names of all the journalists and media workers who were killed in Sri Lanka between 2004 to 2010.

#lka #SriLanka #media #news #journalism #JournalismIsNotACrime #DontKillTheMessenger

Hearings halted for lunch break

Please watch live here, they will resume shortly

ptmurderofjournalists.org

Hearings have just recommenced

Now speaking: Steven Butler @StevenBButler, Asia Program Coordinator, Committee to Protect Journalists, Washington

"We have many dozens of reports on attacks against journalists in Sri Lanka," he says, commencing sharing of facts on emblematic cases in Sri Lanka re killings of and attacks on journalists #lka #SriLanka

"The PTA has become a sword of Damocles hanging over journalists in Sri Lanka... There is no secret today that Sri Lanka's future is highly uncertain; with the Govt. under siege and the declaration of Emergency, journos face risks if they continue to speak out" @StevenBButler

"Should Gotabaya Rajapaksa remain in power, we should anticipate the possibility of escalating threats against journalists who speak up" - @StevenBButler
#lka #SriLanka

In Sri Lanka, "a lot of journalists don't get paid too much. Employees don't provide much info on how to protect themselves" - @StevenBButler

Please watch the hearings live here:

ptmurderofjournalists.org

Unable to tweet more from the hearings today and tomorrow, pls do watch live here: