Former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa arrived at the Court of Appeal on Wednesday for a scheduled hearing related to ongoing legal proceedings against him, Ada Derana reported.
Rajapaksa, who was forced from office in July 2022 at the height of Sri Lanka’s economic crisis and briefly fled the country, has faced a range of legal actions since his return. Matters brought before the courts have included challenges concerning his conduct in office and applications relating to protective court orders.
His appearance at the Court of Appeal marks the latest step in proceedings that continue to draw public attention, given his central role in the events that led to the mass Aragalaya protests and his removal from the presidency.
Details of the specific matter taken up at the hearing were awaited. The former leader remains one of several senior figures from the previous administration whose cases are working their way through Sri Lanka’s judicial system.
Update (July 24): Namal Rajapaksa, an SLPP MP and Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s nephew, appeared before the Court of Appeal in his capacity as an attorney-at-law in support of the former president, NewsFirst reported. The proceedings related to an arrest-prevention petition connected to the investigation into the 2019 Easter Sunday attacks.
