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SRI LANKA: Torture victim continuously denied examination and medical treatment in detention

December 18, 2008

ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION – URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMME

Urgent Appeal Case: AHRC-UAC-265-2008



18 December 2008
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SRI LANKA: Torture victim continuously denied examination and medical treatment in detention

ISSUES: Police assault; torture victim; torture; right to liberty and security; administration of justice
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Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes to inform you that a man, who had to endure a court trial over false charges laid on him for assaulting policemen two years ago, has been continuously deprived of medical examination and treatment while in detention. The policemen tortured him in custody after they arrested him again in May 2008.

CASE DETAILS: (According to the testimony of the victim's parents, S. Devarajah and his wife, Rajletchami)

Sometime in July 2006 there was a clash between policemen and some youth of Ambakotte. At that time, the policemen came to the village in plainclothes and beat some youths. The youth, who did not know that they were policemen, retaliated and beat them in return. This incident took place in front of a small boutique owned by the victim's family.

According to S. Devarajah, his son, Muralitharan Rajah, was inside their house and had nothing to do with the incident. Murali is the only son of the family. He was born in Kandy and studied at Kandy Asoka College and St. Sylvester's College. After his Advanced Level examination he had been helping his parents in their business.
 
 Despite not having been involved in the clash, the policemen arrested Murali on 21 October 2006. He was then produced before the Teldeniya Magistrate Court and was imprisoned on false charges of assaulting the policemen; and only in December 2006 was he released but his trial proceeds.

After having been released from prison, the police, every Sunday, needlessly required him to appear and sign a document at the Teldeniya Police Station.
 
On 28 May 2008 about 11am, while Murali was returning home from the court in Teldeniya, after attending a hearing of his case, policemen from the Criminal Investigation Division (CID) arrested him again outside the courthouse.
 
Murali was then taken to the Teldeniya Police Station where he was beaten severely in open view of his mother, Rajletchami. He had been taken, in handcuffs, on a three wheeler to the police station. After alighting from the vehicle, five to ten police constables started beating him with their hands and feet. He also suffered burns to his legs and had wounds all over his body. The policemen then tortured him the whole night inside the Police Station.

On 25 September 2008, after having been detained at the Teldeniya Police Station and subsequently at the Manikhinna Police Station of the Kandy Police Division for almost four months, Murali was produced before the Magistrate Court in Kandy. He is presently detained in Bogambara prison. The case was called up on 9 November 2008 in the Kandy Magistrate Court but was postponed until 1 December 2008.

While in detention Murali was never seen or examined by a Judicial Medical Officer (JMO) nor was he given treatment for the injuries he had suffered.

 The police officers are angry with the youth of Ambakotte for assaulting their men in July 2006.  Although Murali was not involved in the assault, his parents believe the policemen fabricated charges against their son, accusing him of having been involved in terrorist activities at the time. Some other youth were also taken to Colombo for involvement in the same incident and they are allegedly being held by the CID


SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please write letters to the concerned authorities below asking for their intervention to immediately ensure that the victim is examined by a medical doctor and receives treatment for his injuries. The charges the police have laid on him should be withdrawn and he must be released unconditionally.

The AHRC is also writing letters to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Question of Torture and the Working Group on arbitrary detention.

To support this appeal, please click here:

SAMPLE LETTER:

Dear _________,

SRI LANKA: Torture victim continuously denied examination and medical treatment in detention

Name of victim: Muralitharan Rajah, a resident of 111, Ambakotte, Kengalla
Alleged perpetrators: Policemen attached to the Teldeniya Police Station, Kandy District IV, Kandy Division
Place of present detention:  Bogambara prison
Date of incident: Sometime in July 2006 to the present

I am writing to raise my grave concerns over the plight of torture victim, Muralitharan Rajah, who has been continuously deprived of any medical examination or treatment while in detention.

He had to endure a court trial involving false charges of assaulting policemen during the July 2006 incident. This involved a confrontation between the youths of Ambakotte and the police. He was once again arrested in 28 May 2008 on charges that so far have yet to be made known.

He had just come out of the court in Teldeniya, after attending the hearing of the case previously filed against him, when policemen from the Criminal Investigation Division (CID) arrested him.  Soon after his arrest, he was taken to the Teldeniya Police Station where he was severely beaten in open view of his mother, Rajletchami. He was subsequently tortured while in custody.

Inside the police station, several policemen tortured him all night which resulted in burns to his legs and other wounds all over his body. It was only on 25 September 2008, after being held in two different police stations—the Teldeniya and subsequently the Manikhinna Police Station—that he was turned over to the Bogambara prison where he is presently detained.

However, despite the injuries he had suffered and besides been detained for several months, he was never given the medical treatment he urgently needed nor was he subjected to any medical examination. Also, he was never presented before a Judicial Medical Officer (JMO) who could have substantiated his condition and the extent of the injuries he sustained from the torture he had suffered at the hands of the police.

I therefore urge you to ensure that he is given adequate treatment and that he should be examined, without delay, by a JMO. The policemen involved in the filing of false charges, arresting and torturing the victim, should also be held accountable according to the law. Those responsible for ensuring the victim's welfare while in detention should also be investigated for the failure in their duty of care to have him treated.

They, too, should be held to account once proven to have either deliberately deprived the victim treatment or have neglected their duties of ensuring the health and welfare of the person in their custody. Also, the charges laid on the victim by the police should be withdrawn and he should be released unconditionally.

Yours sincerely,


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PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTERS TO:

1. Mr. Jayantha Wickramaratne
Inspector General of Police (IGP)
Police Head Quarters
New Secretariat, Colombo 1
SRI LANKA
Fax: +94 11 2 440440/327877
E-mail: igp@police.lk 

2. 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

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

4. Mr. Hemantha Priyasanth Dep
Acting Attorney General
Attorney General's Department
Colombo 12
SRI LANKA
Fax: +94 11 2 436421
E-mail: ag@attorneygeneral.gov.lk


Thank you.

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

Document Type :
Urgent Appeal Case
Document ID :
AHRC-UAC-265-2008
Countries :
Issues :
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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.