Killings, Assaults and intimidation had gone unpunished

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has released a special report on the fears faced by the outspoken journalists in Sri Lanka.

No peace dividend

The report titled 'no peace dividend in Sri Lanka press' states that at least 9 journalists have been assassinated since year 2004 and about 25 journalists are living in exile in fear of their lives.

In particular the report reads into the lives of journalists Prageeth Eknaligoda, Sandaruwan Senadeera and J.S Tissanayagam who have been victims of the repression of independent media.

criticises the President

The report criticises the President of Sri Lanka, stating the journalists work in fear and intimidation and as a result they would refrain from publishing articles that would embarrass Rajapakse or members of his family.

The CPJ reports hold the government of Sri Lanka accountable for the failure of investigating and prosecuting 'three brutal anti-media assaults' last year. Namely, the bombings on a TV station, that had its master control room wiped out and the 'two brazen daytime assaults left one newspaper editor dead and one left in exile'.

	Jailed for 20 years

prosecute unsolved attacks

In their lengthy recommendations the CPJ calls the government of Sri Lanka to denounce threats on the news media, prosecute unsolved attacks on the media and guarantee safe return of the journalists who are in exile.

They call upon the international community to put pressure on the government of Sri Lanka to establish freedom of expression in the country; and to renounce anti-press attacks.

the EU's suspension of the tariff benefit, GSP +, should be used to extract meaningful guarantees of media freedom CPJ

anti-media policies

In particular, they call upon the UN to 'speak out' directly to the public of Sri Lanka about the government's anti-media policies.

They believe the EU's suspension of the tariff benefit, GSP +, should be used to extract meaningful guarantees of media freedom.

Responding to the question raised by the CPJ about Sri Lanka's culture of impunity, the Attorney General Mohan Peiris has stated "Now that things are back to normal, and terrorism is no more, the time is right…to put those structures back so that civil life returns to normalcy...".