Ravindra Wijegunaratne, the chief of the defence staff, is accused of aiding the abduction of 11 people in the final stages of the war

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Sri Lanka’s most senior military official has been jailed as a court investigates allegations he helped cover up the disappearance of 11 people during the final months of the country’s three-decade civil war.

Ravindra Wijegunaratne, the chief of defence staff, avoided an arrest warrant for weeks before police detained him on Wednesday, after he was accused of trying to abduct a key witness in the case at the weekend.

He is the highest-ranking military official ever to face charges stemming from crimes allegedly committed during the country 26-year war against Tamil separatists.

The court in the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo, heard Wijegunaratne assisted the escape of a naval intelligence officer who is accused of abducting and killing 11 men during the last days of the civil war in 2009.

Investigators say the accused kidnapper, Chandana Prasad Hettiarachchi, intended to hold the mostly Tamil men from wealthy families for ransom. Their bodies have never been found.

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Wijegunaratne, who is not implicated in the disappearances, is alleged to have assisted Hettiarachchi to flee to Malaysia to avoid arrest. Hettiarachchi returned to Sri Lanka in August and has been arrested.

Human rights groups have documented dozens of allegations of civilians being kidnapped and held for ransom by the military, among other grave abuses allegedly committed during the war.

The country’s newly established Office of Mission Persons estimates at least 20,000 people vanished without explanation during the conflict.

Successive Sri Lankan governments have been reluctant to hold military officials accountable for alleged abuses and defied calls to establish an international court to try war crimes suspects. But a handful of cases have been pursued against internal resistance.

Three arrest warrants were issued for Wijegunaratne this month but the presidential appointee refused to surrender, even travelling to Mexico as an official government envoy.

But police moved on him this week after reports Wijegunaratne and five other navy officers threatened a lieutenant commander who is a key witness in the case.

“I am denying bail because in your position you are able to influence witnesses and disrupt the investigations,” magistrate Ranga Dassanayake told Wijegunaratne in a packed Colombo courthouse on Wednesday, according to Agence France-Presse.

Wijegunaratne appeared in full military regalia, which the judge described as an attempt to intimidate the court. Members of his entourage attacked journalists as they tried to photograph the military official when he arrived. One navy officer was arrested for assault.

A lawyer for Wijegunaratne denied the allegations and said his client would apply for bail. He will be held in detention until 5 December pending further investigation.

The hearing took place as the country continued to drift in a power vacuum without an internationally recognised prime minister or cabinet.

Former president Mahinda Rajapaksa, who oversaw the end of the war and whose rule was marred by allegations of human rights abuses, was recently appointed Sri Lanka’s prime minister.

But opposition and many civil society groups say his appointment was unconstitutional, and he has been unable to prove he has a majority in parliament, leaving the country deadlocked.