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SRI LANKA: The case of two missing men has still not been investigated almost one year after their abduction by alleged CID agents

June 19, 2009

ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION – URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMME

Urgent Appeal: AHRC-UAC-061-2009



19 June 2009
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SRI LANKA: The case of two missing men has still not been investigated almost one year after their abduction by alleged CID agents

ISSUES: Police inaction; abduction; disappearance
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Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information about the allegedly unlawful arrest of a man from his workplace in Dehiwela by police in 2008. Hours after making a police complaint and a public announcement about the disappearance, the man's boss was abducted from Wallawatte by men claiming to be from the Criminal Investigation Division. Neither man has been seen or heard of since.

CASE DETAILS: (based on the testimony of the two victims' wives)

On 21 July 2008 at about 7:15pm a group of plain clothed persons identified themselves as police and asked Mr. Palaniyandi Shanmugarajah to leave his work at a printing press in Dehiwela, and go with them to record a statement. No charges were made and Shanmugarajah has been missing since.

His colleagues tried to make a complaint at the Dehiwala police station, but say that the police did not accept it. The next day the business owner, Mr. Sinnaiah Devanayagam made a complaint at the same station, and then made a statement through a popular Tamil TV channel, Shakthi TV. On his way home he was abducted.

According to witnesses, Devanayagam's vehicle was stopped on Vihara lane Wellawatte by a white van and men in plain clothes, who later identified themselves as being from the Criminal Investigation Department of the police. They forced Devanayagam and his driver, a Mr. Rjasighham Chandra Kumar, to go with them, though the driver was released after about 2km. The van had no number plate.

Shanmugarajah's wife Anjela lodged a complaint with the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on September 2, 2008 (HRC 4388/08/L-16). She did not complain to the police because she was aware that complaints had already been made. The NHRC office requested a copy of the police complaint but when Anjela went to get it an officer refused, stating that the complainant must request it personally. Since the complainant is missing the NHRC told her that they would obtain the copy themselves. She has not received news of further action on their part.

According to the two women a case was lodged by the Dehiwela police in the Mt. Lavinia Court (B2178/08) last year regarding the abduction. However since no witnesses are willing to come forward the case has not progressed.

SUGGESTED ACTION:

Please write letters to the relevant authorities urging them to thoroughly investigate these abductions, discern the fate of the two men and punish those responsible for their disappearance.

Please be informed that the AHRC is writing a separate letter to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and Enforced or Involuntary Disappearance calling for its intervention in this case.

To support this appeal please click here:

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SAMPLE LETTER:

Dear __________,

SRI LANKA: The case of two missing men has still not been investigated almost one year after their abduction by alleged CID agents

Name of victims:
1) Palaniyandi Shanmugarajah (38) married, resident of No. 161/10 Richard Aluvihare Street, Aluvihare, Matale. Employee of St Jude’s Creation Pvt. Ltd. a printing press company in Dehiwela.
2) Mr. Sinnaiah Devanayagam, owner of St. Jude's Creation Pvt. Ltd, Dehiwela.
Name of alleged perpetrators: Persons working for the Criminal Investigation Department
Date of incident: July 21, 2008 and July 22, 2008
Place of incident: Dehiwela and Wellawatte, Sri Lanka

I am writing to voice my deep concern regarding the abduction of two men by persons claiming to be police and members of the CID.

Mr. Palaniyandi Shanmugarajah was taken from his job at a printing press in Dehiwela on July 21, 2008 and has been missing since, and little has been done regarding the complaint made by his boss at the Dehiwala police station.

The business owner, Mr. Sinnaiah Devanayagam was abducted the following day after making his complaint and giving a statement to a popular Tamil TV channel, Shakthi TV. Devanayagam's vehicle was stopped on Vihara lane Wellawatte by a white van and men in plain clothes, who identified themselves as being from the Criminal Investigation Department of the police. They forced Devanayagam and his driver, a Mr. Rjasighham Chandra Kumar, to go with them, though the driver was released after about 2 kilometers. The van had no number plate.

Police have been unhelpful when Shanmugarajah's colleagues tried to lodge a complaint, and when the victim's wives have since tried to ask for copies of the complaint and follow the progress of the case. The National Human Rights Commission seems to have made little progress in its investigation.

I strongly urge you to revive the investigation into the whereabouts of these men, and expect that their safety become a top priority. Those found to be responsible for their abduction must be subjected to due process. This case must not join the legions of those past, in which hundreds of Sri Lankans have disappeared without investigations being made into their fate, and no action taken against their alleged abductors.

Yours sincerely,


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PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTERS TO:

1. Mr. Mahinda Rajapakse
President
Socialist Democratic Republic of Sri Lanka
C/- Office of the President
Temple Trees
150, Galle Road
Colombo 3
SRI LANKA
Fax: +94 11 2472100 / +94 11 2446657
E-mail: secretary@presidentsoffice.lk

2. Hon. Amarasiri Dodangoda, MP
Minister of Justice
Ministry of Justice and Law Reforms
Superior Courts Complex,
Colombo 12
SRI LANKA
Tel: 94 11 2384837, 2324681, 2392932
Fax: 94 11 2325354 / 2445446

3. Secretary
Ministry of Defense, Public Security, Law and Order
15/5, Baladaksha Mawatha,
Colombo 03,
SRI LANKA
Tel: 94-11 2 430860-9, 430878-9 or 435879 (for the secretary)
Fax: 94 11 2 446300 or 421529
E-mail: secdef@sltnet.lk

4. Mr. Mohan Peris
Attorney General
Attorney General's Department
Colombo 12
SRI LANKA
Fax: +94 11 2 436421
E-mail: attorney@sri.lanka.net
Mr. Mohan Peris

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

6. Secretary
Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka
No. 36, Kynsey Road
Colombo 8
SRI LANKA
Tel: +94 11 2 694 925 / 673 806
Fax: +94 11 2 694 924 / 696 470
E-mail: sechrc@sltnet.lk

Thank you.

Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (ua@ahrchk.org)

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Document Type :
Urgent Appeal Case
Document ID :
AHRC-UAC-061-2009
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.