Swiss Embassy employee given bail

• Francis released on two sureties of Rs. 500,000 each
• Was remanded on 16 Dec. after AG directed she be arrested and face charges under Penal Code
• Embassy employee alleges she was abducted and threatened on 25 Nov.
• CID says no evidence such an incident took place

Ganiya Banister Francis, the employee of the Swiss Embassy in Colombo who is at the centre of an abduction debacle, was released on bail yesterday by Colombo Chief Magistrate Lanka Jayaratne two weeks after she was remanded.

She was remanded following a direction by the Attorney General that she face charges under the Penal Code for exciting or attempting to excite disaffection against the State as well as for giving or fabricating false evidence.

Francis was released on two sureties of Rs. 500,000 each by the Magistrate who directed that the two sureties give Grama Sevaka certificates to validate their place of residence.

The Court also set strict bail conditions including directing Francis to keep the Court informed if she is changing her permanent residence, extending her overseas travel ban and impounding her passport.

She was also directed to inform Court if she is obtaining a passport under any other law.

Francis was arrested and remanded on 16 December after the AG said that on examination of the B report filed by the CID in connection to the alleged incident as well as initial inquiry reports, there was reasonable suspicion that the abduction alleged by Francis had not taken place.

The AG directed that there was sufficient evidence to charge Francis under Sections 120 and 190 of the Penal Code and to arrest her under section 32 (1) (a) of the Code of Criminal Procedure Act, which allows the Police to arrest without a warrant based on credible information received or on the existence of a reasonable suspicion against the person.

The incident involving the Assistant Migration Officer at the Mission began on 25 November when she complained to the Swiss Embassy that she had been allegedly detained against her will in a vehicle and threated by a group of unidentified persons on the evening of 25 November.

The complaint by the Embassy reached the Government on 27 November and after a few days’ standoff, with the Government demanding that the employee in question give a statement to the Police, the CID got a Court order on 3 December imposing a travel ban on her as well as forcing her to give a statement by 9 December.

Francis recorded her first statement with the CID on 8 December and on five other days. She was also ordered to undergo an examination by a JMO and was subject to a psychiatric evaluation before she was placed under arrest.

The incident involving the local staffer has led to heighted tensions in diplomatic relations between the two countries, with the Swiss Government issuing several demarches with the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDAD) in Bern summoning Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to Switzerland based in Berlin, Karunasena Hettiarachchi, to protests against the alleged abduction of its Colombo Embassy employee.