such risks and tell me it 's a matter of time before I am bumped off . '' Wickrematunga wrote that he was twice assaulted and his house was fired upon . `` Despite the government 's sanctimonious assurances , there was never a serious police inquiry into the perpetrators of these attacks , and the attackers were never apprehended . `` In all of these cases , I have reason to believe the attacks were inspired by the government . When finally I am killed , it will be the government that kills me , '' he wrote . Sri Lankan President Mahindra Rajapaksa , asked about threats to journalists , voiced assurance that no journalist or media institution had cause to fear any threats or attacks by the government , according to a statement on the government 's official Web site . Watch Sri Lanka 's foreign minister discuss press freedom '' `` The government had no interest whatever in seeking disgrace through any attacks on the media , '' he said , and he assured media leaders that the culprits would be captured and brought to justice , the statement said . Hostility against journalists and their
-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- A crusading Sri Lankan journalist shot dead last week knew he would be killed -- he said so in a dramatic , posthumously published column touching a raw nerve in his war-torn island nation . A candlelight vigil in the Sri Lankan capital in memory of slain journalist Lasantha Wickrematunga . Lasantha Wickrematunga , editor-in-chief of The Sunday Leader , was gunned down execution-style January 8 but spoke from the grave three days later when the newspaper published `` And Then They Came For Me . '' That posthumous column anticipated his slaying by government forces and defended the craft of journalism in his country , a profession under fire during its bitter civil war . `` Diplomats , recognizing the risk journalists face in Sri Lanka , have offered me safe passage and the right of residence in their countries . Whatever else I may have been stuck for , I have not been stuck for choice . But there is a calling that is yet above high office , fame , lucre and security . It is the call of conscience , '' Wickrematunga wrote . `` People often ask me why I take