Rajapaksa, 73, will now be required to present proof within the case filed on the disappearance of two rights activists Lalith Weeraraj and Kugan Murugananthan within the northern district of Jaffna.
The disappearances passed off 12 years in the past quickly after the tip of the nation’s lengthy civil battle when Rajapaksa was a robust official on the defence ministry beneath the presidency of his elder brother, Mahinda Rajapaksa.
On the time, Gotabaya Rajapaksa was accused of overseeing abduction squads that whisked away insurgent suspects, vital journalists and activists, lots of them by no means to be seen once more. He has beforehand denied any wrongdoing.
When Rajapaksa was initially summoned to look in court docket in 2018, he petitioned the Court docket of Attraction claiming his life can be beneath risk if he have been to journey to Jaffna to look in court docket.
The Attraction Court docket later dominated that Rajapaksa can’t be summoned to court docket as he had been elected President by then and loved authorized immunity because the President of the nation.
As Rajapaksa has now misplaced his constitutional immunity, the apex court docket determined to subject summons to him to make an look on December 15 when the case can be heard. Rajapaksa was ousted within the widespread rebellion in opposition to him for his mishandling of the island nation’s worst financial disaster.
He fled to the Maldives mid-July and introduced his resignation from Singapore. In early September he returned to the nation from Thailand.