Former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa could return to Sri Lanka this Saturday, according to media

Sep. 2 (EUROPA PRESS) –

Former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who is currently in Thailand on a “temporary visit”, could return to the country this Saturday more than two months after the popular revolution against the government that led him to flee practically ‘in extremis’ from the country.

President Ranil Wickremesinghe would be making arrangements for his possible return, at the request of the Sri Lanka Popular Front (SLPP) of his brother, the former prime minister and former president, Mahinda Rajapaksa, a source close to Gotabaya has reported to the ‘Daily Mirror’ newspaper. .

After his return, Gotabaya will receive the pertinent privileges for having held the Presidency of Sri Lanka, as explained by the chief secretary of the Sri Lankan Commonwealth of Nations, Safara Kariyavasam, as reported by the newspaper ‘Dinamina’.

Given the animosity caused by the figure of the former president — accused of promoting nepotism and corruption — the president would have asked his successor and former rival turned ally in his last months in office, Ranil Wickremesinghe, guarantees of return to protect his life before any possible attack.

Gotabaya’s visa expires in November and the Thai government has already indicated that it has no intention of extending his status, contrary to what Singapore decided at the time, so the president would have to be back in Sri Lanka at the earliest. take on that date.

The opposition, mainly represented by the United People’s Power party, has not objected to his return but has asked that he be tried for embezzlement charges against him, “since he no longer enjoys legal immunity,” he said. previously the general secretary of the party, Ajith Perera.