Beranda / News / Urgent Appeals / SRI LANKA: An innocent youth persecuted for over six years by the Teldeniya police

SRI LANKA: An innocent youth persecuted for over six years by the Teldeniya police

January 20, 2012

ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION-URGENT APPEAL PROGRAMME

Urgent Appeal Case: AHRC-UAC-004-2012



20 January 2012
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SRI LANKA: An innocent youth persecuted for over six years by the Teldeniya police

ISSUES: Illegal arrest; arbitrary detention; torture; impunity; rule of law
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Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that Mr. Muttiah Chandra Mohan was arrested after an incident with officers from the Teldeniya Police Station. The officers had arrived at Chandra Mohan's village in plain clothes and without identifying themselves or the reason for their attack started beating several young men. As they victims did not know that their attackers were police officers they defended themselves. As a result of this Chandra Mohan was arrested and remanded. Whilst on bail he was rearrested by the Terrorist Investigation Department and has now been indicted for engaging in terrorist activities. He was severely tortured in detention on numerous occasions and it is believed that this charge is an act of vengeance by the Teldeniya police officers. He has now been in detention for over four years.

CASE NARRATIVE:

Mr. Muttiah Chandra Mohan (36) is a driver by profession, married and the father of two daughters. He resides with his family at No: 01/B, Ambakotte, Kengalle in the Kandy District.

During July 2006, there was a clash between the policemen from the Teldeniya Police Station and a youth of Ambakotte. At that time the policemen came to the village in plain clothes and beat several young people indiscriminately. As the officers were in plain clothes and did not identify themselves as police officers the young men retaliated and beat them in return. Chandra Mohan was arrested along with some others in this connection and was remanded for 8 months at Bogambara Remand Prison. He was later released on bail and the case is still proceeding (after six years) in the Kandy Magistrate's Court. As a condition of bail Chandra Mohan was ordered by the court to report to the Teldeniya Police Station on every first Sunday of the month.

On the 6 April 2008, when he was returning from the Teldeniya Police, (after reporting) Chandra Mohan was arrested by the Colombo Terrorist Investigation Department (TID) officers at his house at Ambakotte. He was detained at Gurudeniya in a house for 4 days. He was handcuffed and during the day he was blindfolded. Chandra Mohan was inhumanly tortured during those four days. He was kicked, hung, stripped naked and beaten and later taken to the Colombo TID office where he was detained for 10 months. From the TID office he was transferred to Boossa, where the terrorist suspects are detained without having been charged. He was detained there until October 2009.

Chandra Mohan was finally produced in the Magistrate's Court of Colombo on the 10 October, 2009 and was remanded in Colombo Remand Prison (CRP) as a terror suspect under Remand No. 5820. His case No: is B/3122 EER 25/2011.

Since 2008 Chandra Mohan has never been given the reason for his arrest. In January 2012 the Attorney General's Department filled an indictment accusing him of participating in terrorist activities. His High Court case will be called at the Kandy High Court.

Chandra Mohan and his family feel that it is a revenge taken by the police for the incident that happened in 2006 at Ambakotte that he was arrested again tortured and accused.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS:

The Asian Human Rights Commission has reported innumerable cases of torturing innocent by the Sri Lankan police which are illegal under international and local law which have taken place at different Police Station in the country over the past few years.

The State of Sri Lanka sign and ratified the CAT on 3 January 1994. Following state obligations Sri Lanka adopted Act number 22 of 1994 the law adopted by the Sri Lankan parliament making torture a crime that can be punishable for minimum seven years and not less than ten years on being proven guilty. The Attorney General of Sri Lanka is suppose to file indictments in the case where credible evidence were found on torturing people by state officers.

SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please send a letter to the authorities listed below expressing your concern about this case and requesting an immediate investigation into the allegations of illegal arrest, illegal detention, torturing by the police perpetrators, and the prosecution of those proven to be responsible under the criminal law of the country for misusing powers of a state. The officers involved must also be subjected to internal investigations for the breach of the department orders as issued by the police department. Further, please also request the NPC and the IGP to have a special investigation into the malpractices of the police officers for abusing the state officers' powers.

Please note that the AHRC has also written a separate letter to the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment on this regard.

To support this appeal please click here:

SAMPLE LETTER:

Dear ________,

SRI LANKA: An innocent youth persecuted for over six years by the Teldeniya police

Name of the victim: Mr. Muttiah Chandra Mohan (36) of No: 01/B, Ambakotte, Kengalle in the Kandy District
Alleged perpetrator: Police officers attached to the Teldeniya and TID Colombo
Date of incident: 6 April 2008
Place of incident: Terrorist Investigation Department

I am writing to express my serious concern over the case of Mr. Muttiah Chandra Mohan (36). Chandra Mohan is a driver by profession, married and the father of two daughters. He resides with his family at No: 01/B, Ambakotte, Kengalle in the Kandy District.

During July 2006, there was a clash between the policemen from the Teldeniya Police Station and a youth of Ambakotte. At that time the policemen came to the village in plain clothes and beat several young people indiscriminately. As the officers were in plain clothes and did not identify themselves as police officers the young men retaliated and beat them in return. Chandra Mohan was arrested along with some others in this connection and was remanded for 8 months at Bogambara Remand Prison. He was later released on bail and the case is still proceeding (after six years) in the Kandy Magistrate's Court. As a condition of bail Chandra Mohan was ordered by the court to report to the Teldeniya Police Station on every first Sunday of the month.

On the 6 April 2008, when he was returning from the Teldeniya Police, (after reporting) Chandra Mohan was arrested by the Colombo Terrorist Investigation Department (TID) officers at his house at Ambakotte. He was detained at Gurudeniya in a house for 4 days. He was handcuffed and during the day he was blindfolded. Chandra Mohan was inhumanly tortured during those four days. He was kicked, hung, stripped naked and beaten and later taken to the Colombo TID office where he was detained for 10 months. From the TID office he was transferred to Boossa, where the terrorist suspects are detained without having been charged. He was detained there until October 2009.

Chandra Mohan was finally produced in the Magistrate's Court of Colombo on the 10 October, 2009 and was remanded in Colombo Remand Prison (CRP) as a terror suspect under Remand No. 5820. His case No: is B/3122 EER 25/2011.

Since 2008 Chandra Mohan has never been given the reason for his arrest. In January 2012 the Attorney General's Department filled an indictment accusing him of participating in terrorist activities. His High Court case will be called at the Kandy High Court.

Chandra Mohan and his family feel that it is a revenge taken by the police for the incident that happened in 2006 at Ambakotte that he was arrested again tortured and accused.

I request your urgent intervention to ensure that the authorities listed below instigate an immediate investigation into the allegations of illegal arrest, illegal detention, torture by the police perpetrators, and the prosecution of those proven to be responsible under the criminal law of the country for misusing powers of state officers and for wrongful prosecution. The officers involved must also be subjected to internal investigations for the breach of the department orders as issued by the police department.

Yours sincerely,

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PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTERS TO:

1. Mr. N K Illangakoon
Inspector General of Police
New Secretariat
Colombo 1
SRI LANKA
Fax: +94 11 2 440440 / 327877
E-mail: igp@police.lk

2. Ms. Eva Wanasundara
Attorney General
Attorney General's Department
Colombo 12
SRI LANKA
Fax: +94 11 2 436421
E-mail: ag@attorneygeneral.gov.lk

3. The Secretary
National Police Commission
3rd Floor, Rotunda Towers
109 Galle Road
Colombo 03
SRI LANKA
Tel: +94 11 2 395310
Fax: +94 11 2 395867
E-mail: npcgen@sltnet.lk or polcom@sltnet.lk

4. The Secretary
Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission
No. 108
Barnes Place
Colombo 07
SRI LANKA
Tel: +9411 2694925, +9411 2685980, +9411 2685981
Fax: +9411 2694924 (General) +94112696470 (Chairman)
E-mail: sechrc@sltnet.lk

Thank you.

Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (ua@ahrc.asia)

 


 

Document Type :
Urgent Appeal Case
Document ID :
AHRC-UAC-004-2012
Countries :
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Extended Introduction: Urgent Appeals, theory and practice

A need for dialogue

Many people across Asia are frustrated by the widespread lack of respect for human rights in their countries.  Some may be unhappy about the limitations on the freedom of expression or restrictions on privacy, while some are affected by police brutality and military killings.  Many others are frustrated with the absence of rights on labour issues, the environment, gender and the like. 

Yet the expression of this frustration tends to stay firmly in the private sphere.  People complain among friends and family and within their social circles, but often on a low profile basis. This kind of public discourse is not usually an effective measure of the situation in a country because it is so hard to monitor. 

Though the media may cover the issues in a broad manner they rarely broadcast the private fears and anxieties of the average person.  And along with censorship – a common blight in Asia – there is also often a conscious attempt in the media to reflect a positive or at least sober mood at home, where expressions of domestic malcontent are discouraged as unfashionably unpatriotic. Talking about issues like torture is rarely encouraged in the public realm.

There may also be unwritten, possibly unconscious social taboos that stop the public reflection of private grievances.  Where authoritarian control is tight, sophisticated strategies are put into play by equally sophisticated media practices to keep complaints out of the public space, sometimes very subtly.  In other places an inner consensus is influenced by the privileged section of a society, which can control social expression of those less fortunate.  Moral and ethical qualms can also be an obstacle.

In this way, causes for complaint go unaddressed, un-discussed and unresolved and oppression in its many forms, self perpetuates.  For any action to arise out of private frustration, people need ways to get these issues into the public sphere.

Changing society

In the past bridging this gap was a formidable task; it relied on channels of public expression that required money and were therefore controlled by investors.  Printing presses were expensive, which blocked the gate to expression to anyone without money.  Except in times of revolution the media in Asia has tended to serve the well-off and sideline or misrepresent the poor.

Still, thanks to the IT revolution it is now possible to communicate with large audiences at little cost.  In this situation there is a real avenue for taking issues from private to public, regardless of the class or caste of the individual.

Practical action

The AHRC Urgent Appeals system was created to give a voice to those affected by human rights violations, and by doing so, to create a network of support and open avenues for action.  If X’s freedom of expression is denied, if Y is tortured by someone in power or if Z finds his or her labour rights abused, the incident can be swiftly and effectively broadcast and dealt with. The resulting solidarity can lead to action, resolution and change. And as more people understand their rights and follow suit, as the human rights consciousness grows, change happens faster. The Internet has become one of the human rights community’s most powerful tools.   

At the core of the Urgent Appeals Program is the recording of human rights violations at a grass roots level with objectivity, sympathy and competence. Our information is firstly gathered on the ground, close to the victim of the violation, and is then broadcast by a team of advocates, who can apply decades of experience in the field and a working knowledge of the international human rights arena. The flow of information – due to domestic restrictions – often goes from the source and out to the international community via our program, which then builds a pressure for action that steadily makes its way back to the source through his or her own government.   However these cases in bulk create a narrative – and this is most important aspect of our program. As noted by Sri Lankan human rights lawyer and director of the Asian Human Rights Commission, Basil Fernando:

"The urgent appeal introduces narrative as the driving force for social change. This idea was well expressed in the film Amistad, regarding the issue of slavery. The old man in the film, former president and lawyer, states that to resolve this historical problem it is very essential to know the narrative of the people. It was on this basis that a court case is conducted later. The AHRC establishes the narrative of human rights violations through the urgent appeals. If the narrative is right, the organisation will be doing all right."

Patterns start to emerge as violations are documented across the continent, allowing us to take a more authoritative, systemic response, and to pinpoint the systems within each country that are breaking down. This way we are able to discover and explain why and how violations take place, and how they can most effectively be addressed. On this path, larger audiences have opened up to us and become involved: international NGOs and think tanks, national human rights commissions and United Nations bodies.  The program and its coordinators have become a well-used tool for the international media and for human rights education programs. All this helps pave the way for radical reforms to improve, protect and to promote human rights in the region.