[1월20일 세계언론 속 아시아] 스리랑카판 ‘샤를리 엡도’ 사건…LEN만평가 5년째 실종

<IPS> 스리랑카 1992년 이후 19명 탄압으로 사망…새 정부 언론자유 보장할까

[아시아엔 편집국] 파리 ‘샤를리 엡도’ 테러 이후 전세계적으로 ‘언론의 자유’를 지지하는 움직임이 일고 있다. 지구 반대편 스리랑카에서도 사망자는 없으나 실종자가 발생하는 등 명백한 언론탄압이 자행되고 있다.

스리랑카 칼럼니스트이자 만평가인 프라기트 에카날리고다(Prageeth Eknaligoda)의 2010년 1월24일 이후 근 5년간 행방불명이다. 그의 아내는 지방경찰청부터 제네바의 UN본부까지 가서 그를 찾으려 했지만 실패했다. 국제엠네스티 등 인권단체들은 정부가 그의 실종과 연관돼 있을 것이라 말한다. 이웃들은 에카날리고다가 실종된 날, 그의 집 주변에서 하얀색 벤을 목격했다고 진술했다. 스리랑카에서 누구를 강제연행할 때 주로 흰색 벤을 활용한다. 이 때문에 스리랑카 사람들은?흰색 벤을 얘기하면?’강제연행’이나 실종’을 떠올린다.

<랑카 이뉴스>(LEN) 만평가이자 칼럼니스트로 활동하던 프라기트 에카날리고다는 스리랑카의 부패와 인권유린, 민주주의 훼손 등을 비판한 바 있다. 그의 작품 중 가장 유명한 것은 반라의 여성이 웃고 있는 남성패거리들을 바라보고 있는 그림이다. 여성 뒤의 벽엔 ‘다수를 따르는 것이 민주주의다’라고 적혀있다. 이 작품은 신할라 불교가 다수인 스리랑카에서 타밀 소수민족 등이 박해 받는 것을 풍자했다. 그는 콜롬보에서 자살한 소녀를 묘사한 만평을 통해 스리랑카 교육체제를 날카롭게 비판하기도 했다.

스리랑카에선 1992년 이후 19명의 기자가 언론탄압으로 사망했지만, 에카날리고다도 사망했다는 명백한 증거는 없다. 그의 시신이 발견되지 않았기 때문에, 그의 묘지도 없다. 프라기트 에카날리고다의 실종과 관련해 모한 페이리스 전 스리랑카 법무장관은 2011년 UN에서 그가 해외체류 중이라고 했지만 이후 진술을 번복했다.

‘샤를리 엡도’ 직후 마힌다 라자팍사(Mahinda Rajapaksa) 전 스리랑카 대통령은 애도를 표했다. 하지만 에카날리고다 실종사건을 아는 시민들은 “라자팍스 전 대통령이 위선자며 그는 정작 자국의 언론자유에는 무관심하다”고 비판했다. 스리랑카는 최근 라자팍사가 물러나고 마이트리팔라 시리세나(Maithripala Sirisena) 신임대통령이 취임하며, 시민과 인권운동가들은 상황이 반전되길 고대하고 있다.

언론보호위원회의 수밋 갈호트라(Sumit Galhotra)는 IPS와의 인터뷰에서 “마이트리팔라 시리세나 대통령 취임은 스리랑카의 언론자유를 증진시킬 수 있는 기회”라고 말했다. 그는 “신임대통령이 부정부패를 척결하고 투명성을 제고할 것이라고 했다. 우리는 시리세나 대통령이 이를 지킬지 주시할 것”이라 덧붙였다.

새 정부가 출범하면서 인권운동가들은 언론자유가 개선되길 기대하고 있다. 이전에는 접속이 불가능했던 <타밀넷(TamilNet)>과 <랑카이뉴스(Lanka eNews)>의 차단이 풀리며 긍정적인 징후들도 나타나고 있다.?번역·요약 노지영 인턴기자

 

In Sri Lanka Cartoonists Aren’t Killed ? They’re Disappeared

Scenes from the brutal shooting of 12 journalists with the French satirical weekly ‘Charlie Hebdo’ have monopolised headlines worldwide ever since two men opened fire in the magazine’s Paris office on Jan. 7.

Millions have marched in the streets against what is widely being billed as an attack on free speech, and the work of the magazine’s cartoonists has gone viral.

Several thousands miles away, in Sri Lanka, a different attack on press freedom has not received even a fraction of the attention. Perhaps because, in this particular tragedy, the leading character was not killed. He simply vanished without a trace.

“One sure way to reverse the dangerous trajectory Sri Lanka has been going down during the past decade is to seriously address the pleas of those like Sandhya Eknaligoda, whose husband Prageeth remains missing five years on […].” — Sumit Galhotra, Asia Researcher for the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)

The last time anyone heard from Prageeth Eknaligoda was on Jan. 24, 2010. Just after 10 p.m. he called to inform his wife, Sandhya, that he was on his way home from the office. He never arrived.

From local police stations all the way to the United Nations in Geneva, she has searched for answers as to his whereabouts, but found none.

Rights groups like Amnesty International believe the authorities played a role in his disappearance, while neighbours report seeing an unmarked white van parked outside his house the day he went missing ? a vehicle widely associated with enforced disappearances in Sri Lanka.

A cartoonist and columnist for Lanka eNews (LEN), Eknaligoda had long used his pen to draw attention to corruption, human rights abuses and eroding democracy in Sri Lanka.

One of his most widely shared images depicts the back of a half-naked woman facing a gang of laughing men. Scratched on the wall behind her are the words “Preference of the majority is democracy”, which some commentators claimed was a reference to the powerlessness of minorities in a largely Sinhala-Buddhist country.

He also turned his sharp pen to the issue of education, sketching out in glaring detail the impact of a weak school system on the youth, including one cartoon that depicted the tragic suicide of a student at a leading girls’ school in the capital, Colombo.

In a country that is ranked fourth ? between the Philippines and Syria ? on the Impunity Index compiled by the leading media watchdog Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), it was perhaps only a matter of time before Eknaligoda was forced to answer to the powers that be.

But because there is no evidence to show he suffered the same fate as the 19 Sri Lankan journalists who have been killed in cold blood since 1992, Eknaligoda is not included among those who paid with their lives for their writings.

Because his body was never found, there is no gravesite around which to gather to mourn his death. In fact, former Attorney General Mohan Peiris told a United Nations Committee against Torture in 2011 that Eknaligoda was still alive and living in a foreign country ? a statement he later retracted.

As far as the family is concerned, disappearance is a fate worse than death. In an interview with IPS in 2012, Sandhya Eknaligoda explained, “Not knowing where your loved one is, that is mental torture. And it is worse than physical torture, where at least the world can see the marks of your suffering.”

New government, new hopes

On Jan. 7, as news of the Charlie Hebdo massacre reached heads of state around the world, Sri Lanka’s then-president Rajapaksa was among those to immediately offer condolences to the victims’ families.

So when Rajapaksa was ousted at the Jan. 8 presidential election, replaced by his former party secretary Maithripala Sirisena, experts and activists began, tentatively, to hope for accountability.

“Maithripala Sirisena’s stunning win marks an opportunity for Sri Lanka to improve the climate for press freedom,” Sumit Galhotra, Asia researcher for CPJ, told IPS. “While he has pledged to eradicate corruption and ensure greater transparency, we will be watching closely to see if he follows these verbal commitments with concrete steps.

“One sure way to reverse the dangerous trajectory Sri Lanka has been going down during the past decade is to seriously address the pleas of those like Sandhya Eknaligoda, whose husband Prageeth remains missing five years on and to begin combating the culture of impunity that has flourished in the country when it comes to anti-press violence,” he added.

 

Among a long list of atrocities that the journalistic community has suffered was the assassination of Lasantha Wickrematunge in broad daylight on Jan. 8, 2009. Founder-editor of the major English-language weekly, the Sunday Leader, Wickrematunge was an outspoken critic of all forms of abuse of power and human rights violations.

Addressing a crowd of some 50 people who gathered at his gravesite on the morning of the presidential poll exactly six years after Lasantha’s death, his brother Lal Wickrematunge called attention to the failure of the “numerous squads assigned to handle investigations into the murder [to make] any headway.”

Now, as the new government assumes office, activists say there will be a renewed push for justice.

It is still early days, but already there have been some positive steps.

“Some of the websites that were blocked like TamilNet and Lanka eNews are accessible now, and these are good signs,” Ruki Fernando, a prominent grassroots activist here, told IPS.

“But there are a number of cases, like Prageeth’s, Lasantha’s and many, many others ? including numerous cases against the [Jaffna-based Tamil language daily newspaper] Uthayan ? that need to be expedited.

“That doesn’t mean that Lal [Wickrematunge] or Sandhya [Eknaligoda] are asking for political favours,” he asserted. “All they’re asking is that the normal course of justice, which was been obstructed so far, be allowed to proceed in an independent manner without political interference.

“These are things we expect from the new regime in its first 100 days,” Fernando stated. “Until they are implemented, I don’t have much confidence ? I only have hope.”