Sri Lankan court blocks Swiss Embassy worker from leaving

A Sri Lankan court has blocked a Swiss Embassy employee from leaving the country until she gives a statement to police about allegations that she was abducted and threatened in order to disclose embassy information.

Colombo's chief magistrate issued the order Tuesday at the request of police.

The Swiss foreign ministry called the November 25 incident a "very serious and unacceptable attack," but the Sri Lankan government says evidence collected by investigators does not support the sequence of events given by the embassy, and that the employee needs to be interviewed by police.

Swiss State Secretary Pascale Baeriswylsummoned Sri Lanka's ambassador and asked him to explain the evidence and said the employee can't be questioned due to ill health.