Gotabaya Rajapaksa

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FILE - Then-Sri Lankan presidential candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa speaks during a news conference in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Oct. 15, 2019. Former Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has denied allegations in a British television program that Islamic State-inspired extremists were used to carry out bomb attacks on Easter in 2019 to create insecurity in the country and help him win the election later that year. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena, File)

Former Sri Lankan president denies that suicide bombings were staged to enable his election

By Krishan Francis - Associated Press

Sri Lankan Defense Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa attends a conference aimed at reconciliation in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Thursday, Nov. 24, 2011. Sri Lanka's former President Rajapaksa was accused in a report released Thursday, June 22, 2023, of tampering with police records in order to hamper investigations into mass graves discovered in an area where he was a military officer at the height of a bloody Marxist insurrection in 1989. (AP Photo/ Gemunu Amarasinghe, File)

Ex-Sri Lanka president ordered police records destroyed to stall mass grave probes, report alleges

By Krishan Francis - Associated Press

FILE- Sri Lanka's president elect Gotabaya Rajapaksa waves to supporters as he leaves the election commission after the announcement of his victory in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Sunday, Nov. 17, 2019, file photo. The ousted President is expected to return home Friday, Sept. 2, 2022, more than seven weeks after he fled the country amid mass protests that demanded his resignation, holding him and his family responsible for the country's economic crisis. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena, File)

Sri Lanka’s ousted president returns home after fleeing

By Bharatha Mallawarachi and Krutika Pathi - Associated Press

Sri Lankans wait in queue to buy petrol at a fuel station, in Colombo, Sri Lanka, July 17, 2022. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

Sri Lanka acting president declares emergency amid protests

By Bharatha Mallawarachi - Associated Press

In this photograph provided by the Sri Lankan President's Office, interim President Ranil Wickremesinghe, right, greets Chief Justice Jayantha Jayasuriya during the oath-taking ceremony in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Friday, July 15, 2022. Prime Minister Wickremesinghe was sworn in as Sri Lanka's interim president Friday until Parliament elects a successor to Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who resigned after mass protests over the country's economic collapse forced him from office. (Sri Lankan President's Office via AP)

Ranil Wickremesinghe becomes interim Sri Lankan president

By Krutika Pathi, Krishan Francis and Bharatha Mallawarachi - Associated Press

People take selfie at the official residence of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fourth days after it was stormed by anti government protesters in Colombo in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Wednesday, July 13, 2022. The president of Sri Lanka fled the country early Wednesday, days after protesters stormed his home and office and the official residence of his prime minister amid a monthslong economic crisis that triggered severe shortages of food and fuel. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

President flees Sri Lanka amid crisis as ire turns toward PM

By Krishan Francis and Krutika Pathi - Associated Press

People watch propaganda materials displayed against prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe outside president Gotabaya Rajapaksa's office three days after it was stormed by anti government protesters in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Tuesday, July 12, 2022. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

Thousands protest against Sri Lanka’s new acting president

By Krutika Pathi - Associated Press

Protesters swim as onlookers wait at a swimming pool in the president's official residence a day after it was stormed in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Sunday, July 10, 2022. Sri Lanka’s opposition political parties will meet Sunday to agree on a new government a day after the country’s president and prime minister offered to resign in the country’s most chaotic day in months of political turmoil, with protesters storming both officials’ homes and setting fire to one of the buildings in a rage over the nation’s economic crisis. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

Taking selfies, Sri Lankans converge on presidential palace

By Bharatha Mallawarachi - Associated Press

Protesters look around and pose for photographs at the president's official residence a day after it was stormed in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Sunday, July 10, 2022. Sri Lanka’s president and prime minister agreed to resign Saturday after the country’s most chaotic day in months of political turmoil, with protesters storming both officials’ homes and setting fire to one of the buildings in a rage over the nation's severe economic crisis. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

Sri Lanka in political vacuum as talks go on amid crisis

By Krishan Francis - Associated Press

Protesters, many carrying Sri Lankan flags, gather outside the presidents office in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Saturday, July 9, 2022. Sri Lankan protesters stormed President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's residence and nearby office on Saturday as tens of thousands of people took to the streets of the capital Colombo in the biggest demonstration yet to vent their fury against a leader they hold responsible for the island nation's worst economic crisis. (AP Photo/Thilina Kaluthotage)

Sri Lanka opposition meets to name new gov’t amid turmoil

By Krishan Francis - Associated Press

Protesters react as a tear gas shell fired by police lands next to them in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Saturday, July 9, 2022. Sri Lankan protesters demanding that President Gotabaya Rajapaksa resign forced their way into his official residence on Saturday, a local television report said, as thousands of people took to the streets in the capital decrying the island nation's worst economic crisis in recent memory. (AP Photo/Amitha Thennakoon)

Sri Lanka Parliament speaker: President to resign Wednesday

By Krishan Francis - Associated Press

A daily wage laborer waits for work at a wholesale market in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Sunday, June 26, 2022. Sri Lankans have endured months of shortages of food, fuel and other necessities due to the country's dwindling foreign exchange reserves and mounting debt, worsened by the pandemic and other longer term troubles. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

Gas lines and scuffles: Sri Lanka faces humanitarian crisis

By Bharatha Mallawarachi and Paul Wiseman - Associated Press

Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan inspects a Guard of Honor upon his arrival in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2021. Khan is in Sri Lanka for a two day official visit. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

Imran Khan invites Sri Lankan Buddhists to visit Pakistan

By BHARATHA MALLAWARACHI - Associated Press

FILE - In this April 30, 2019 file photo, Archbishop of Colombo Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith addresses a press conference in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The top Sri Lankan church official has asked President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to give him access to a presidential commission report on the deadly 2019 Easter Sunday bomb attacks, that killed more than 260 people. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena, File)

Sri Lankan archbishop seeks access to Easter bombings report

By KRISHAN FRANCIS - Associated Press

Sri Lankan army soldiers march during the 73rd Independence Day parade rehearsal in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2021. Sri Lanka's independence from British colonial rule is celebrated on Feb. 4 each year. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

Sri Lanka leader vows action vs 2019 bombing militants

By KRISHAN FRANCIS - Associated Press

Sri Lankan court acquits ex-rebel lawmaker of murder charges

By KRISHAN FRANCIS - Associated Press

Daughter of slain Sri Lankan journalist files UN complaint

By KRISHAN FRANCIS - Associated Press

FILE - In this Friday, Jan. 3, 2020, file photo, Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa leaves after addressing parliament during the ceremonial inauguration of the session, in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka’s government in early September has proposed changes to the constitution to aggrandize powers of the president, that will allow him hold key ministries and appoint officials to key positions, powers that were taken away by a reformist government elected in 2015. The draft of the 20th Amendment to the constitution will allow Rajapaksa to appoint top judges, police chief, members of the public service, elections, bribery and human rights commissions at his discretion. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena, File)

Sri Lanka government proposes increased presidential powers

By KRISHAN FRANCIS - Associated Press

Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa greets supporters following his election victory in the general election at his residence in Tangalle, Sri Lanka, Friday, Aug. 7, 2020. The country's powerful Rajapaksa brothers secured a landslide victory in the parliamentary election, giving them nearly the two-thirds majority of seats required to make constitutional changes, according to results released Friday. Rajapaksa is likely to be sworn in the same position by his younger brother, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, after the vote that could strengthen dynastic rule in the Indian Ocean island nation. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

Rajapaksa sworn in as PM in Sri Lanka, cementing family rule

By BHARATHA MALLAWARACHI - Associated Press

Supporters of Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa attend an election rally in Colombo, Sri Lanka, July 22, 2020. Sri Lankans are voting in parliamentary elections that are expected to strengthen President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's grip on power on Aug. 5. Parts of the party are also calling for a two-thirds majority in Parliament so it can amend the constitution to restore presidential powers curbed by a 2015 constitutional change. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

A glance at Sri Lanka and its parliamentary elections

Associated Press