Sri Lanka releases sketches of Sunday Leader editor's killers

Sri Lankan police today released sketches of two alleged assassins in connection with the murder case of the editor of The Sunday Leader, a vocal critic of former president Mahinda Rajapaksa who was hacked to death in 2009.
Lasantha Wickrematunga was killed in broad daylight in January 2009 when some unidentified bike-borne assailants gunned him down in the Colombo suburb of Ratmalana.
He was the founder and editor of The Sunday Leader, and was involved in a legal fight with Rajapaksa's brother, the then powerful defense secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
After a decade-long rule of Rajapaksa was ended in 2015, the new government under President Maithripala Sirisena has revived the murder investigation.

The police are still seeking information from public to help them on the investigation and released sketches of two alleged assassins in connection with the murder.
Wickrematunga was declared a World Press Freedom Hero of the International Press Institute in 2010.
In his final editorial which was published in 2009 after his assassination, Wickrematunge wrote, "When finally I am killed, it will be the government that kills me."
He also wrote that he hoped his murder would not be interpreted as a "defeat of press freedom but as an inspiration".