SRI LANKA: DEFENSE SECRETARY THREATENS THE PRESS,

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 COLOMBO 000591 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR SCA/INS MCC FOR S GROFF, D NASSIRY, E BURKE AND F REID E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/12/2017 TAGS: PGOV PREL PTER PHUM MOPS CE SUBJECT: SRI LANKA: DEFENSE SECRETARY THREATENS THE PRESS, AGAIN REF: COLOMBO 475 Classified By: Ambassador Robert O. Blake, Jr., for reasons 1.4(b,d). ¶1. (S) SUMMARY: Defense Secretary Rajapaksa reportedly threatened Daily Mirror Editor Champika Liyanarachchi following the publication of a series of articles on the activities of the LTTE-breakaway Karuna group in the East. After the call from Gothabaya, Liyanarachchi contacted Karuna directly. Karuna assured her that his cadres would not harm her and added that he would complain to Gothabaya in writing about the incident. Gothabaya has since publicly admitted he called Liyanarachchi but denied that he threatened the editor and expressed his concern at the media's intolerance of constructive criticism. Presidsent Rajapaksa reassured her that the GSL wishes her no harm and expressed regret at the Defense Secretary's conduct. This most recent example of Government of Sri Lanka (GSL) attempts to suppress unflattering media reports confirms other accounts of the Defense Secretary personally issuing threats. End Summary. ¶2. (S) Defense Secretary Gothabaya Rajapaksa reportedly threatened the life of Daily Mirror Editor Champika Liyanarachchi following the publication of a series of articles on the activities of the LTTE-breakaway Karuna group in the East. Liyanarachchi told the Embassy that Gothabaya called her and told her that Karuna cadres are "after her" for implicating them in the newspapers' lead story on April ¶16. According to Liyanarachchi, Gothabaya also said that the Government of Sri Lanka will not do anything to save her because she deserves that fate. He added that she should resign as Editor because she has demoralized the military with these kind of articles. If she did not resign, he said he would get the Chairman of the newspaper to fire her. Liyanarachchi recounted that Gothabaya told her that Minister of Posts and Telecommunication Rauff Hakeem would be "looked after" because he had been planting anti-Karuna stories in the Daily Mirror. He allegedly also called Mirror journalist Uditha Jayasinghe "a prostitute" and threatened to have her "exterminated" for writing articles on internally displaced persons in Batticaloa. ¶3. (S) After the call from Gothabaya, Liyanarachchi contacted the Karuna group by phone. Karuna spoke to Liyanarachchi personally and assured her that he would not let anything happen to her. Liyanarachchi told us the Karuna group promised to write a letter to Gothabaya asking why he would make such accusations against them. ¶4. (S) Liyanarachchi told us that friends of hers have approached Gothabaya about the incident and relayed his excuse that he was simply in a fit of anger when he spoke to her. President Rajapaksa telephoned Liyanarachchi later to downplay the significance of his brother's comments, saying that Gothabaya had only wanted to express his concern for her safety. Gothabaya has since publicly admitted he spoke to Liyanarachchi, but denied that he threatened the editor. He expressed his concern at the media's intolerance of constructive criticism. Liyanarachchi told the Ambassador on April 18 that she preferred to let the incident die down and asked that the U.S. refrain from any high-profile intervention. ¶5. (SBU) A less detailed version of this story was made public on April 18 when it appeared in other local newspapers and on the "BBC Sinhala" website, as well as on the LTTE website Tamilnet. The Morning Leader reported that Rajapaksa called Liyanarachchi, criticized "anti-government stories" published in the Daily Mirror, and added that Karuna was "not very happy" with the newspaper's reporting. ¶6. (C) A separate Embassy contact told us that in late COLOMBO 00000591 002 OF 002 February Gothabaya made a similar call to Mr. Ranjith Wijewardane, Chairman of the Wijeya Group, the company that owns the Daily Mirror. Gothabaya threatened Wijewardane and complained about the disloyalty of the newspaper. In this case as well, the President later called Wijewardane to downplay the incident and explain that Gothabaya's bark was worse than his bite. Our contact said that this is actually a common practice for the brothers and described it as their "good cop, bad cop strategy." ¶7. (S) COMMENT: The GSL has already compiled an unenviable record of media intimidation. These reports of threats delivered personally by the Defense Secretary are two of the most detailed and credible of several accounts that have reached us about such inappropriate outbursts from the Defense Secretary. The latest is disturbing in that it tends to confirm the relationship between Gothabaya and the renegade Karuna group. In view of Liyanarachchi's specific appeal to the Ambassador that high-level U.S. intervention not be undertaken, we recommend against the Department raising the Defense Secretary's alleged threats with the Sri Lankan Ambassador or other GSL officials. BLAKE