Inside story of Soma Thero's death

at the time as the photographed ceremony had only five persons present, furniture in disarray and no
audience.
It now appears from the Ambassador's report the ceremony took place at the sanitorium, which possibly
explains the circumstances of the photo.
The reports filed by the Embassy and doctor was later corroborated by the postmortem done in
Colombo, that the thero had in fact died of a heart attack.
The Sri Lankan Ambassador in Moscow has further stated that he has been in touch with the priest
almost daily and that he failed to attend the degree awarding ceremony in St. Petersburg upon being
invited by the late priest himself as he (Wijekoon) was scheduled to present credentials in Kazakhstan.
The Ambassador confirms that the priest was not recommended surgery as he was a severe diabetic
patient and that he had suffered a severe heart attack on December 12 and passed away around 8
a.m.
The Sri Lankan mission chief has sent a further clarification regarding an incision that appeared on his
neck area subsequently, attached to the report.
Wijekoon in a fax massage has clarified the position with regard to the cut on the late monk's neck.
"Having inquired further to my e-mail sent today, I wish to inform that the cut appearing in the neck
region of the Thero is the cut made by the pathologist to avoid blue spots appearing on the face due to
congestion venous blood. Through the cut, medical preparations were injected into carotid arteries for
the above mentioned purpose."
However, upon the Ambassador's initiation, Dr. K.A. Karunanayake (embassy panel doctor) along with
Rupasiri Perera had visited the Thero in St. Petersburg on being informed in November to ascertain his
condition and to collect some money to foot the bill of his operation. Members present at a meeting of
the Buddhist Society in Moscow have promptly agreed to contribute nearly US$ 9,000.
Ambassador U.B. Wijekoon has attached two reports by Dr. Karunanayake and Perera filed on
December 6 (six days prior to his demise) to his own report faxed to Colombo, which offers the opinion
that Ven. Thero's was a natural death caused by a severe heart attack.
Supporting the Ambassador's claim that the priest died of natural causes, Dr. Karunanayake in his
report dated December 6 states: "Rev. Soma Thero has been suffering from diabetes mellitus type 2 for
the last 10 years. Before landing here in Moscow, he felt chest pains. With those pains, he managed to
fly further to St. Petersburg spending another three hours and then only an ambulance was called and
he was rushed to the hospital."
More pertinently, the letter written six days before the venerable monk's death ends with Dr.
Karunanayake adding, "According to Soma Thero, he is not sure in this condition whether he can fly or
not because the last time he got the chest pains while in the air. I agree with him on this point, as
diabetic patients may feel chest pains whenever they get into conditions of low oxygen levels."
To foot the bill of the surgery, Rupasiri Perera of the Buddhist Society in Moscow adds that Roubles
167,773 were handed over to Dr. Shanthi Jayasekera in the presence of Soma Thero as there was no
other person to hand over the money to. Pertinently, Perera's letter adds that he managed a little
dhamma discussion with the priest on the morning of December 6 at the hospital, but felt that he had
some worries.
"He does not worry about his health but worries about the attitude of others to his illness. He gets so
many calls from different countries, mainly Sri Lanka and Australia, and 99% of them make him worry
because these people do not know the situation here and they have not got the right information," said
Perera in his letter to Jayasinghe in Australia, obviously communicating Soma Thero's message.
Going by the comments of the Buddhist Society president made on December 6, six days prior to the
Thero's death, it appears, Soma Thero himself was concerned "wrong information" was spread on his
illness by interested parties, which he himself has cautioned against and wanted stopped.