The Colombo Permanent Trial-at-Bar has granted permission to recall the fourth prosecution witness in the long-running case over the alleged disappearance of journalist and political cartoonist Prageeth Eknaligoda, NewsFirst reported.
The decision marks a significant procedural step in a trial that has stretched over years. Eknaligoda, a journalist and activist, went missing in January 2010, two days before that year’s presidential election, and is believed to have been abducted. His body has never been found.
The case, filed by the Attorney General, is being heard against a group of Army intelligence officers accused in connection with the abduction and disappearance. Prosecutors have led evidence from multiple witnesses as they seek to establish the circumstances of the disappearance.
The move follows an earlier stage of the trial in June, when the prosecution sought to recall a witness after alleging that contradictory statements had been given under pressure. The bench had reserved its order at that time before the substantive trial resumed.
The Eknaligoda case remains one of the most closely watched wartime-era accountability proceedings before the Sri Lankan courts, and its outcome is seen as a test of the justice system’s handling of alleged enforced disappearances.
