Sri Lanka’s president has formally appointed Deshabandu Tennakoon as the incumbent Inspector General of Police in Sri Lanka, an official who the Supreme Court found had personally participated in torture and whose appointment had not been approved by the state's Constitutional Council.
Sri Lanka’s president defended his controversial appointment of Deshabandu Tennakoon as the head of the island’s police force, and claimed that Constitutional Council “is part of the Executive,” in a demonstration of his apparent willingness to consolidate power in the president’s office.
A senior Canadian police chief sparked controversy with a visit to Sri Lanka last month, where he discussed “cooperation” with its notorious police force and visited the office of a senior official who the Supreme Court found had personally participated in torture.