Sri Lanka’s sacked police chief Deshabandu Tennakoon was remanded in custody on Thursday, accused of leading an assault on peaceful protesters three years ago that triggered nationwide unrest.Tennakoon, 54, was arrested on Wednesday and brought before Colombo Fort magistrate Nilupuli Lankapura.”Deshabandu Tennakoon aided and abetted an assault on anti-government protesters on May 9, 2022,” a police investigator told the court.The crackdown outside then-president Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s office sparked retaliatory violence in which scores of homes of ruling party politicians were torched.The unrest escalated, forcing Rajapaksa to resign two months later after public fury over corruption and mismanagement that caused crippling shortages of food, fuel and medicine.Parliament impeached Tennakoon this month for criminal conduct in a separate case, one of more than 40 he faces for abuse of power.Tennakoon was appointed in November 2023 despite the Supreme Court having found he had tortured a suspect by rubbing menthol balm on his genitals.Weeks later, he was accused of authorising a botched raid in the coastal town of Weligama that led to a gun battle between rival police units.
Sri Lanka’s sacked police chief Deshabandu Tennakoon was remanded in custody on Thursday, accused of leading an assault on peaceful protesters three years ago that triggered nationwide unrest.Tennakoon, 54, was arrested on Wednesday and brought before Colombo Fort magistrate Nilupuli Lankapura.”Deshabandu Tennakoon aided and abetted an assault on anti-government protesters on May 9, 2022,” a police investigator told the court.The crackdown outside then-president Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s office sparked retaliatory violence in which scores of homes of ruling party politicians were torched.The unrest escalated, forcing Rajapaksa to resign two months later after public fury over corruption and mismanagement that caused crippling shortages of food, fuel and medicine.Parliament impeached Tennakoon this month for criminal conduct in a separate case, one of more than 40 he faces for abuse of power.Tennakoon was appointed in November 2023 despite the Supreme Court having found he had tortured a suspect by rubbing menthol balm on his genitals.Weeks later, he was accused of authorising a botched raid in the coastal town of Weligama that led to a gun battle between rival police units.
