It was announced a short while ago that the US Department of State has designated Lieutenant General Shavendra Silva, current Commander of the Sri Lanka Army and Acting Chief of Defense Staff and his immediate family members. The public designation makes them ineligible for entry into the United States.

The Embassy of Switzerland in Sri Lanka on 30 December 2019, has communicated the following Diplomatic Note to the Ministry of Foreign Relations of Sri Lanka. The note is being simultaneously released by the Embassy of Switzerland in Sri Lanka and the Ministry of Foreign Relations in Colombo. The note reads as follows:

Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena this evening (18 December) received a telephone call from the Foreign Minister of Switzerland Ignazio Cassis regarding the status of the Sri Lankan employee at the Swiss Embassy Ms. Garnier Banister Francis. She is presently in custody on reasonable suspicion of committing offenses under Sections 120 and 190 of the Penal Code, that could justify a criminal charge of disaffection towards the government, and fabricating false evidence for the purpose of being used in any stage of a judicial proceeding, in her alleged abduction claim.

Hanspeter Mock, Ambassador of Switzerland in Sri Lanka called on President Gotabaya Rajapaksa at the Presidential Secretariat this morning (16).

Conveying warm congratulations to the President over his recent election victory on his and his government’s behalf, the Ambassador said that he especially appreciated President Rajapaksa’s remark that “he is the President of all Sri Lankans”. “Switzerland is happy that traditional relations with Sri Lanka remain strong and mutually beneficial”.

Focusing his attention on recent incident involving a locally recruited official of the Swiss Embassy, Mr. MOCK stressed that Switzerland harboured no intention to do any harm to Sri Lanka.