Swiss authorities call for explanation of evidence against staffer detention

Colombo (News 1st) - The Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) has issued a response to the communique of the Ministry of Foreign Relations Sri Lanka over the alleged detention of a swiss embassy staffer in Colombo. A release on the FDFA website notes that following several demarches regarding the incident, Swiss State Secretary Pascale Baeriswyl received the Sri Lankan ambassador to Switzerland, based in Berlin, Karunasena Hettiarachchi. During the meeting, the Swiss State Secretary reiterated that Switzerland supports a constitutional procedure to resolve the current case but added that the employee in question cannot be questioned on health grounds. The State Secretary Baeriswyl made it clear that Switzerland had no interest in delaying investigations by the Sri Lankan authorities, but that the FDFA as an employer took its responsibility for to its staff seriously. Baeriswyl had also asked Ambassador Hettiarachchi to explain the purported evidence against the events described by the embassy, which the Sri Lankan Ministry of Foreign Affairs had alluded to in its press release. She had affirmed to Ambassador Hettiarachchi that Switzerland remained ready to take the necessary steps to restore confidence between Switzerland and Sri Lanka.