Graveside memorial service to mark 10th anniversary of Lasantha’s assassination

• On 8 January 9 a.m. at Borella Kanatte

The 10th anniversary of the assassination of The Sunday Leader founder Editor-in-Chief Lasantha Wickrematunge, which falls on 8 January, will be marked with a service at his graveside.

Family, friends, former colleagues and others, including those from political and diplomatic circles, will gather at Borella Kanatte at 9 a.m. to mark the anniversary and remember Lasantha.

This year’s memorial will also feature a tribute to other journalists slain in the line of duty, acknowledging that Lasantha’s story wasn’t the only one. 

Assassinated on 8 January 2009, Lasantha was one of Sri Lanka’s leading journalists and an outspoken critic of the Rajapaksa Government. He was attacked as he drove to work and later died of his injuries. The brazen attack was carried out by two gunmen on motorcycles in the middle of morning-rush-hour traffic.

The investigation into Lasantha’s murder has yielded no tangible results thus far and his killers still roam free, a decade later.