Former Swiss embassy staffer given two-year suspended RI

The Colombo High Court has issued a sentence for Garnia Bannister Francis, a local employee of the Swiss Embassy in Colombo, who was allegedly abducted in 2019. She has been sentenced to two years of rigorous imprisonment and fined Rs. 5,000 by the court.

 

 

However, the judge has also ordered that the prison sentence be suspended for five years.

 

 

In December 2019, Francis was arrested by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and faced charges of exciting disaffection against the Government and fabricating false evidence for a future judicial proceeding. She was later released on bail.

 

 

The accusations against her included filing a false complaint at the Cinnamon Gardens Police, claiming that she had been abducted and sexually harassed by an armed group in a white van near St. Bridget’s Convent in Colombo on 25 November 2019.