COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — The streets of Colombo pulsed with tension and defiance on August 26, 2025, as hundreds of supporters gathered outside the city’s magistrate court. Their rallying cries and banners were aimed at one cause: the release of former President Ranil Wickremesinghe, who had been arrested just four days earlier on allegations of misusing state funds. The scene was chaotic—riot police, yellow barricades, and a sea of black flags—yet it underscored the gravity of an event unprecedented in Sri Lanka’s history. Wickremesinghe, a political veteran who once steered the nation through its worst economic storm, had become the first former head of state to face arrest in the island nation.
The charges against Wickremesinghe, 76, stem from a controversial 2023 overseas trip. Prosecutors allege he spent $55,000 of government money on a stopover in Britain to attend a graduation lunch celebrating his wife’s honorary professorship, following official visits to Cuba and the United States. The arrest, made on August 22, 2025, was part of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s sweeping anti-corruption campaign—a campaign that has already ensnared more than a dozen ex-officials and political heavyweights since Dissanayake’s rise to power in 2024.
The courtroom drama was heightened by Wickremesinghe’s absence. Instead of appearing in person, the former president joined the August 26 bail hearing via Zoom from a hospital bed at the Colombo National Hospital, where he lay under armed guard. According to Dr. Pradeep Wijesinghe, a director at the facility, Wickremesinghe had been admitted over the weekend due to dehydration and complications related to high blood pressure and diabetes. His health, while stabilized, remained under close watch—a detail that factored into the court’s decision to grant bail on health grounds.
Magistrate Nilupuli Lankapura’s ruling was delivered under tight security, with elite troops stationed around the courthouse. Bail was set at three sureties of five million rupees each (roughly $16,600 apiece), and the next hearing was scheduled for October 29. As news of the decision filtered out, Wickremesinghe’s supporters erupted in cheers, dancing in the streets. But the sense of relief was tempered by a deepening political divide.
To his backers, the arrest smacked of political vendetta. Samarasiri Kuruwitaarachchi, a 69-year-old protester, voiced a sentiment echoed by many: “We condemn the arrest of Wickremesinghe who has done so much for the country. We gathered here to demand justice for him.” According to The Associated Press, Kuruwitaarachchi also accused the government of failing to deliver on its election promises and instead “trying to hunt down the political opponents.” Three former Sri Lankan presidents publicly condemned the incarceration as a “calculated assault” on democracy, while several opposition leaders—some former rivals—stood in solidarity with Wickremesinghe.
Wickremesinghe’s United National Party (UNP) was quick to frame the case as politically motivated. The party maintains that the former president is innocent, insisting his wife personally covered her own travel expenses in Britain and that no state funds were misused. UNP deputy secretary Akila Viraj Kariyawasam, speaking to Reuters outside the courthouse, said, “This is a sign of the independence of our judiciary. We came out in support of democracy and due process. The government should continue measures to fight against corruption. We have no objection to that.” Still, Kariyawasam and others hinted at ulterior motives, suggesting the prosecution was designed to prevent Wickremesinghe—who lost the 2024 presidential election but remains politically active—from mounting a comeback.
The government, for its part, categorically denies any political motivation. Transport and Highways Minister Bimal Rathnayake told local media that the law would be enforced equally and that the arrest was “not a political revenge but in accordance with the country’s law.” President Dissanayake, who campaigned on a promise to root out corruption after Sri Lanka’s devastating 2022 economic crisis, has repeatedly stated that “everyone is equal before law.” The case, officials argue, is simply a continuation of the government’s mandate to probe alleged malpractices of previous administrations.
Wickremesinghe’s political journey has been nothing short of dramatic. A lawyer by training, he served as Sri Lanka’s prime minister a record six times before being thrust into the presidency in July 2022, after mass protests forced Gotabaya Rajapaksa from office. Wickremesinghe inherited a nation on the brink—soaring inflation, a collapsing currency, and empty foreign reserves. With the backing of the International Monetary Fund, he imposed severe austerity measures and, according to NDTV, managed to stabilize the economy: inflation fell, the rupee strengthened, and reserves crept back up. Yet these hard-won gains came at a political cost, as public resentment simmered over the sacrifices demanded by his economic reforms.
His 2023 trip to Britain—now at the heart of the scandal—was, according to the UNP, made at the invitation of the university conferring his wife’s honorary professorship. The party insists all protocols were followed and that the allegations are unfounded. Wickremesinghe himself has maintained that “his wife’s travel expenses in Britain were met by her personally and no state funds were used for the visit.”
As Colombo’s Fort Magistrate Court convened under the watchful eyes of both supporters and skeptics, the case against Wickremesinghe became a flashpoint for broader questions about Sri Lanka’s democracy, accountability, and the balance of power. The ruling party, led by Dissanayake, has sought to reassure the public that its anti-corruption drive is genuine and impartial. Yet, the optics of a former president hospitalized and appearing in court remotely, while hundreds protest outside, have fueled suspicions and deepened divisions.
Whether the charges against Wickremesinghe will stick remains to be seen. The next court date is set for late October, and legal analysts expect a protracted battle. In the meantime, the nation remains transfixed—some hopeful that justice is finally being served, others fearful that old political rivalries are simply being repackaged as reform.
For now, Wickremesinghe’s fate hangs in the balance, a symbol of both the promise and peril of Sri Lanka’s turbulent democracy. The coming months will test not just the former president’s resolve, but the very institutions he once led through crisis.
