Claim: Letter by Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith expressing doubt that victims of the 2019 Easter Attacks will receive justice if Sajith Premadasa becomes president
Fact: The posts are false. The Cardinal has not issued any such statement. A letter written by Rienzie Arsecularatne airing his concerns about SJB presidential candidate Sajith Premadasa has been misconstrued.
A news card, carrying a collage of the images of Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, and a letter purportedly written by him, expressing concern that the victims of the 2019 Easter attacks may not get justice if Sajith Premadasa becomes president, is going viral on social media platforms.
Users shared the newscard, carrying the watermark of news outlet A5 News, with the Sinhala caption which read, “If Sajith becomes President, it is not sure what would happen to justice for the Easter terrorist attacks.” An archive post of one such instance can be seen here.
Newschecker noticed that this claim is going viral mainly on Facebook.
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Fact check/Verification
The Newschecker team began by conducting a keyword search on the words ‘Sajith Premadasa’, ’Deshabandu Thennakoon, ‘Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith’, and ‘A5 News’ and came across their original post dated 15 September 2024, from A5 News which carried a detailed explanation of the contents of the letter:
On 15 September 2024, A5 News Sri Lanka posted an image of a letter to the Cardinal and other members of the Catholic archdiocese from President’s Counsel Rienzie Arsecularatne about his concerns about SJB presidential candidate Sajith Premadasa and his plans to ensure justice for the victims of the 2019 Easter Attacks.
In the letter, Arsecularatne mentions that former Inspector General of Police, Deshabandu Thennakoon, who was fired on 24 July 2024, was responsible for the Easter Attacks. He also mentions that Agalakada Sirisumana Thero filed an interim petition against this decision for the removal of Thennakoon. Thero gave a speech in favour of Premadasa as the president at a rally held on 11 September 2024. Thus, Arsecularatne writes, that he believes that the appointment of Premadasa as President would result in the reinstatement of Thennakoon, which could mean no justice for the victims of the Easter Attacks.
The Newschecker team noticed that Premadasa had on 26 February 2024 made a statement on his verified X account against Thennakoon’s appointment as Inspector General of the Police:
We further found another Facebook post by A5 News Sri Lanka, on 16 September 2024, specifying that their graphic is going viral with the wrong context:
The post says that the original post from the day before mentions that the Cardinal has received the letter from Arsecularatne, not that he has made any statement about the letter.
One can also see the same clarification by the publication, 22 minutes 40 seconds into their YouTube segment ‘Kinihira’.
Moreover, the Catholic Archdiocese of Colombo also posted a statement on their Facebook account calling the claim untrue. “The Cardinal has made no such statement. This is merely a letter he has received,” the post reads.
Furthermore, on 17 September 2024, the SJB candidate Premadasa made a statement at a meeting in Negombo that he would ensure that victims of the Easter Attacks receive justice as they deserve.
Conclusion
The posts claiming that Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith said that Presidential Candidate Sajith Premadasa will not bring justice to victims of the 2019 Easter Attacks were found to be untrue.
Result: False
Our Sources
Facebook posts by A5 News Sri Lanka on 15 and 16 September
Facebook post by the Catholic Archdiocese of Colombo on 15 September
‘Kinihira’ programme held on 16 September on the verified YouTube channel of A5 News Sri Lanka
Post on Verified X account of Sajith Premadasa dated 24 February 2024
Entry dated 18 September on the Hiru News Sri Lanka website
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