Sri Lankan police question ex-Lankan prez Rajapaksa in journo abduction case

Sri Lankan police today questioned former strongman Mahinda Rajapaksa in connection with a 2008 abduction and assault case of a journalist.

Keith Noyahr of The Nation newspaper had been abducted by some unidentified persons when Rajapaksa was the president in 2008.

He said that he was questioned based on a statement by Parliamentary Speaker Karu Jayasuriya, who was also a minister in his cabinet.

Rajapaksa accused President Maithripala Sirisena of carrying out a political vendetta against him.

"These are political desires (his questioning) carrying out political vendetta," Rajapaksa told reporters after the police's crime investigation officers visited him.

"They said Karu Jayasuriya had called me at 1120 that night and immediately after that Noyahr had been released," Rajapaksa said.

He said that he did not remember Jayasuriya calling him to intervene for Noyahr's release.

Sri Lanka's press freedom was under stress during the Rajapaksa presidency. Many journalists fled the country while the editor of the Sunday Leader, a fierce Rajapaksa critic, was shot dead in 2009.

Sirisena's government opened the Noyahr's abduction case after Rajapaksa lost the 2015 presidential election.

Several high-ranking military intelligence officers have been arrested in the case.

Former Sri Lankan strongman Rajapaksa's nearly a decade-long rule was ended by Sirisena in 2015.