Updated on Wednesday, January 14, 2009, 00:00 IST

Colombo, Jan 14: Sri Lanka's government censured a senior international diplomat after he spoke at the funeral of a newspaper editor whose murder has been blamed on the island's rulers, officials said on Wednesday.

German ambassador Jurgen Weerth was ordered to the Colombo foreign office and told of Sri Lanka's anger over his graveside eulogy for Lasantha Wickrematunga, officials who declined to be named told reporters.

Wickrematunga, who was shot by unknown gunmen as he drove to work, was the editor of the Sunday Leader and was fiercely critical of government policy, especially its bloody and costly war against Tamil rebels.

"Weerth was summoned to the Foreign Ministry on Tuesday and the Foreign Secretary (Palitha Kohona) expressed Sri Lanka's displeasure and concern over his remarks," a source at the ministry said.

He said the government felt that the funeral had been turned into a political event. There was no immediate comment from the German embassy in Colombo.

Weerth, who is the dean of Colombo-based diplomats, said in his brief eulogy that the diplomats had failed to speak out earlier in support of media freedom in Sri Lanka.

"Today is a day when one remains speechless," Weerth said at the funeral Monday. "Maybe we should have spoken before this. Today it is too late.

"Today is a day when humanity has lost a major voice of truth. But, he will live in his work."

Sri Lanka's opposition has demanded an international probe into the killing, which drew condemnation from the US, the European Union and many media rights groups, but the government has rejected the call.

Paris-based media watchdog Reporters Without Borders issued a statement saying President Mahinda Rajapakse's government was directly to blame for the death of the editor as they had "incited hatred against him."

Bureau Report