Sri Lanka court orders Leader publications to pay Rs.250 million damage to Defense Secretary

A Sri Lankan court today ordered a local media institution to pay a hefty sum for publishing an article defaming the country's Defense Secretary. Mount Lavinia District Court Judge K. Priyantha Fernando ordered Leader Publications today to pay a damage of Rs.250 million for defaming the secretary of the Ministry of Defense Gotabhaya Rajapaksa. Defence Secretary Rajapaksa had filed the case against the Sunday Leader newspaper and its Chief Editor demanding Rs. 1 billion over an article written by the late editor of the Sunday Leader, Lasantha Wickrematunga on the MIG fighter jet transactions. After the yet unresolved assassination of Lasantha Wickrematunga in January 2009, the case continued with Leader Publications as the defendant. Mount Lavinia District court earlier had given an interim order restraining the Sunday Leader newspaper from publishing any news item concerning the Defense Secretary. But the order was vacated after the Sunday Leader guaranteed the courts that they would not publish any news items defamatory of the Defense Secretary.