It is reported that Sri Lanka Television Corporation’s Kuliapitiya Regional Correspondent Mr. Dineth Kumara was reporting a news story from the Bingiriya Police when the relevant police officers questioned him, assaulted him damaged his camera equipment and arrested the journalist, and imprisoned him. See FMETU’s full statement below against this unlawful incident.
Press release.
FMETU condemn the assault and arrest of journalist Dineth Kumara!
Dineth Kumara, the regional reporter of Sri Lanka Television Corporation in Kuliapitiya, went to the Bingiriya Police Station on November 30 at around 9:00 am to report on a group of people who had come to file a complaint.
In this moment, the police officers who brutally attacked the journalist by damaging his cameras and equipment have finally arrested him and put him in jail. The Federation of Media Employees Trade Union strongly condemns this brutal attack by police officers.
When the journalist took a visual of the name board of the Bingiriya Police Station for relevant reporting, four police officers came and questioned him threateningly. He explained that he was a journalist, and for the proofing, he showed his media ID card. He was attacked and picked up and taken to the police saying that he was a ‘rogue journalist’ and it is reported that the Bingiriya Police OIC was also involved in this attack.
On many previous occasions, the attacks and arrests of journalists from The Newsfirst, BBC, and other media institutions by police officers have been continuously reported. In addition, there have been many occasions the journalists were called to the Criminal Investigation Department to question various issues.
FMETU claims that Mr. Deshabandu Tennakoon’s attention should be focused on this illegal attack which took place on the same day he assumed office as the Acting Inspector General of Police.
The Federation of Media Employees Trade Unions is an affiliated member organization of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), the world’s strongest media organization representing over six lakh members of 167 media organizations in 146 countries.
You are welcome
Dharmasiri Lankapeli
General Secretary.
