Shyamlal Rajapaksa's death:

Three arrested

Zephania Ubwani, Arusha

Three people have been arrested in connection with the death of a senior attorney with the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), police said Tuesday.

Acting Arusha regional police boss Deus Msumeki told The Citizen that police had also recovered a mobile phone believed to belong to Shyamlal Rajapaksa, a Sri Lankan national, adding that the phone was traced to Dar es Salaam.

Msumeki did not name the arrested suspects on the grounds that doing so could jeopardise investigations.

He said police believed that two of the suspects were with Rajapaksa, 45, when he was last seen alive. Eyewitnesses said the lawyer was last seen with two people at his Arusha residence on August 11 night before he was found dead by his house-help the following morning.

Msumeki said a post-mortem on the body of Rajapaksa, who had worked with the ICTR for four years, showed that he died as a result of a ruptured heart. The acting RPC added that investigations were still underway to establish whether Mr Rajapaksa died of natural causes or alcohol poisoning and drug overdose or if he was murdered, as alleged by his relatives.

"We're still looking for more clues on the death. It's only after investigations are complete that we can conclusively say what killed him," he pointed out. Police last weekend dismissed reports from the United Nations headquarters in New York that Mr Rajapaksa was murdered.

Rajapaksa's body was discovered in the living room by his house-help on August 12 morning.

Early last week, reports from New York quoting a senior UN official said preliminary findings indicated that Rajapaksa was murdered in his Arusha home.

However, various newspapers abroad quoted a senior Sri Lankan Government official saying that they were waiting for an official statement on the death from the Tanzania government.

Other reports said, Mr Rajapaksa was in possession of "a damning report" that had shed some light on the 1994 Rwandan genocide that led to the setting up of the UN tribunal based in Arusha. Police in Arusha have repeatedly dismissed reports that Mr Rajapaksa was murdered, saying there was no evidence to support the claim.

Regional police commander Matei Basilio, confirmed last week that police were looking for people who were last seen with Mr Rajapaksa. Two people reportedly arrived at Mr Rajapaksa's residence on the evening of August 11, but a watchman Tumaini Lukumay, stopped them at the gate.

However, Mr Rajapaksa appeared at the balcony and ordered the guard to let them in. The three are believed to have drunk whisky and taken narcotic drugs in the living room from around 8.30pm until 11pm when the two visitors left. After the death was reported, forensic experts took samples of drinks and drugs for analysis while Mr Rajapaksa's body was taken to KCMC Hospital in Moshi for an autopsy.

A Tanzanian with the ICTR yesterday hit out at foreign media reports suggesting that Mr Rajapaksa was murdered, saying they aimed to tarnish Tanzania's good reputation.

"There is nothing like that. Tanzania has been a safe place for UN employees and foreign nationals for many years," he said, adding that the truth would eventually be revealed.