On October 28, local police interrogated Tamil journalists Punniyamoorthy Sasikaran and Valasingham Krishnakumar at their homes in Batticaloa for reporting on a protest that occurred on October 8. The freelance journalists had been covering Tamil dairy farmers protesting against the occupation of their grazing lands by the Sinhala people for the past two months.

A local news website reported that at the time Krishnakumar and Sasikaran were covering the farmers’ protest, President Ranil Wickremesinghe was also visiting Batticaloa. While interrogating the journalists, the police not only asked them about their professional work but also their personal backgrounds and activities, as well as details about the protest.

On November 4, the journalists were ordered by the court to hand over their unedited video footage of a Buddist monk threatening to “cut Tamils into pieces”. Three days later, on November 7, they appeared at the Batticaloa Divisional Crime Detective Bureau and provided the footage to the police. The two journalists were compelled to sign written testimonies, and they are now involved in a police criminal investigation related to protests. Alongside numerous farmers, politicians, and activists, they were scheduled to appear at the Eravur Magistrate Court on November 17.

Both Krishnakumar and Sasikaran have repeatedly been harassed by police. In one incident on August 22, Krishnakumar and two other journalists were held by a mob of more than 50 men for reporting alleged land encroachments by the state in Batticaloa.

The IFJ said, “The IFJ condemns the harassment and intimidation of journalists while covering protests, particularly those reporting on rural and marginalised communities, and considers this an attempt to muzzle free and independent media. The IFJ urges the Sri Lankan authorities to immediately cease its investigation and protect journalists so they can continue their work without fear.”