Sri Lanka case against Swiss embassy staffer ends with small fine

The Sri Lankan embassy employee (seen here with Swiss embassy staff) was charged with "disaffection on the government and fabricating false evidence". She was granted bail in December 2019. Keystone / Chamila Karunarathne

A local employee of the Swiss embassy in Sri Lanka accused of making false statements in a suspected kidnapping case has been fined the equivalent of CHF14 ($16) and ordered to pay legal costs of CHF5,000.

The Swiss foreign ministry welcomed an end to “almost four years of legal proceedings”, saying it would now analyse the Sri Lankan court verdict and decide if further steps needed to be taken. It did not provide further details of the verdict. A foreign ministry spokesperson also told Swiss news agency Keystone-SDA the ministry would cover the employee’s legal costs.

The woman employee was temporarily arrested in 2019 for allegedly making false statements about a possible kidnapping, and later released on bail. She was charged with “disaffection on the government and fabricating false evidence”. This came after the woman stated she had been dragged into a car by unknown persons in Colombo and held against her will so that she would reveal internal embassy information.

According to media reports at the time, the woman was questioned about a visa to a Sri Lankan police inspector who had fled to Switzerland shortly before. The inspector had reportedly been involved in investigations in connection with the family of the then President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa.

The case caused considerable controversy and diplomatic tension between Switzerland and Sri Lanka. Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis telephoned his Sri Lankan counterpart and demanded a rapid clarification of the background to the incident. At the time, Switzerland feared for the rule of law in Sri Lanka and the health of the employee.