Sri Lanka case against Swiss embassy staffer ends with small fine

A local employee of the Swiss embassy in Sri Lanka accused of making false statements in a suspected kidnapping case has been fined the equivalent of CHF14 ($16) and ordered to pay legal costs of CHF5,000. The Swiss foreign ministry welcomed an end to “almost four years of legal proceedings”, saying it would now analyse the Sri Lankan court verdict and decide if further steps needed to be taken. It did not provide further details of the verdict. A foreign ministry spokesperson also told Swiss news agency Keystone-SDA the ministry would cover the employee’s legal costs. The woman employee was temporarily arrested in 2019 for allegedly making false statements about a possible kidnapping, and later released on bail. She was charged with "disaffection on the government and fabricating false evidence". This came after the woman stated she had been dragged into a car by unknown persons in Colombo and held against her will so that she would reveal internal embassy information. According...