Holding a press conference this week on her decade-long struggle in search of justice for her husband’s disappearance Sandya Ekneligoda revealed that many years before current President Ranil Wickremesinghe had phoned her and promised to help her find her husband.

In a previous interview, Ekneligoda also claimed her husband suffered this fate as he had been helping Wickremesinghe against the Rajapaksa clan. “President Ranil Wickremesinghe has a responsibility to deliver justice to Prageeth, as my husband worked along with them against the Rajapaksa regime. He cannot escape this responsibility,” she said at the time.

According to her the obstacles and challenges faced by her have become her greatest strength in her quest for justice.

Ekneligoda was recently named on BBC’s list of 100 inspiring and influential women from around the world for 2022. Her husband Prageeth Ekneligoda a cartoonist and journalist went missing on 24 January 2010.