Lankan Church, activists seek justice for slain priest

Oblate priest Michael Rodrigo was 60 when he was shot and killed by an unknown gunman in 1987

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Oblate priest Father Michael Rodrigo was killed on Nov. 10, 1987. (Photo Credit: Michael Meyler/Princeton University Library)

(Michael Meyler/Princeton University Library)

(UCAN) Church leaders and rights activists in Sri Lanka are demanding a fresh probe to identify the killer of a Catholic priest and social worker, who was shot dead nearly 40 years ago.

Oblate Father Michael Rodrigo was 60 when an unknown gunman shot him from close range while he was offering a Holy Mass at Buttala in Uva province.

The call for the fresh probe came as Catholics, Buddhists, and rights activists gathered at the spot of the priest's murder on his 38th death anniversary.

They said the successive governments in the past four decades had ignored the demand for a probe that would identify the murderer for political reasons.