Convicted Sri Lanka embassy staffer in Switzerland
An employee of the Swiss embassy to Sri Lanka, who was fined on charges of fabricating a kidnap, has been flown to Switzerland.
The woman was at the centre of a diplomatic row between the two countries in 2019 after claiming she had been bundled into a car and abducted in Sri Lanka.
This followed the issuance of a Swiss visa to a former police inspector who fled Sri Lanka after investigating the family of the then President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa.
Swiss foreign minister Ignazio Cassis was directly drawn into the affair with his Sri Lankan counterpart.
Earlier this month, the woman was fined on charges of “disaffection on the government and fabricating false evidence”.
The Swiss authorities on Wednesday confirmed that the embassy staffer had arrived in the country and that Switzerland would bear the cost.
But the foreign ministry refused to provide further details, citing personal confidentiality.
In compliance with the JTI standards
More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.