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SRI LANKA: Custodial death of a man who was allegedly tortured by the Ratgama police

June 28, 2005

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ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION - URGENT APPEALS PROGRAM

29 June 2005
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UA-111-2005: SRI LANKA: Custodial death of a man who was allegedly tortured by the Ratgama police

SRI LANKA: Torture; Custodial death; Impunity; Rule of law
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Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission is deeply concerned by the alleged torture and death of Kosma Sumansiri by the Ratgama police. He was arrested with three of his friends  by the Ratgama police on 20 May 2005, charged with gambling and remanded at the Galle prison on the same day. However, he died on May 27, three days after being transferred to the Teaching Hospital in Karapitiya. According to the witness, the police brutally tortured Kosma until he bled from his ears and became unconscious because he withdrew his finger when his fingerprints were being obtained. Kosma's family also confirmed that at the time of the arrest the victim was in good health.

The Ratgama police and Galle prison authorities deny any ill treatment against Kosma in their premises, and claim that he was drug dependant and that the injuries sustained by the victim may have been caused as a result of an assault by fellow prisoners, if not by a fall. However, the autopsy report in this case concluded that the fatal injuries occurred in the head and that the musculo-cutaneous injuries found on his body were not compatible with a fall but instead, was caused by blunt force impact.

Please send a letter to the local authorities demanding a speedy and thorough inquiry into the incident. Police personnel responsible for Kosma's death should be punished if the allegation of torture is to be found true. Also, any attempts to conceal this grave miscarriage of justice must be prevented. 

Urgent Appeals Desk
Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)
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DETAILED INFORMAITON:
 
Name of the victim: Kosma Sumanasiri, 41 years old, unmarried and a casual labourer by occupation
Address of the victim: 19, Panvila, Mavadavila, Ratgama, Galle division, Southern Range, Sri Lanka
Complainant: K Leelaseeli and Vitharana Varalieshamy (the victim's elder sister and mother).
Alleged perpetrators: Police personnel attached to the Ratgama Police Station
Date of incident: Arrested on 20 May 2005, allegedly tortured by the Ratgama police while in custody and died on 27 May 2005

At around 12:00pm on 20 May 2005, about five policemen of the Ratgama Police Station walked into Kosma Sumanasiri's house home allegedly on some tip-off of gambling. Upon seeing Kosma playing a card game with three friends, the police arrested all of them. The three men were the victim's brother-in-law R.H. Chandanasiri, Nihal Robert, and Jayadeeva. According to the victim's sister who was nearby, Sergeant Jayaratne assaulted Kosma and Chandanasiri whilst arresting them. All of them were then produced before the Magistrate Galle on the same day. As Kosma was unable to pay the amount of money ordered by the magistrate, he was sent to the Remand Prison in Galle on May 20.

The following day (May 21), upon hearing that the victim and his friends were remanded, Kosma's sister and mother went to the prison to see him. Though they were able to meet with the others, they were not allowed to meet Kosma. His friends informed them that Kosma was ill. Chandrasiri also told them that Kosma had been brutally assaulted by the police. He said that the police kicked Kosma's body and slammed his head on to the wall several times and as a result Kosma had bled from his ears and became unconscious. Chandrasiri also said the police tortured Kosma because he had withdrawn his finger when his fingerprints were being obtained.
 
Once again the victim's sister, Leelaseeli went to meet Kosma in custody on May 23 but the authorities insisted he was still unwell. When she again visited the remand prison on May 24, the prison officials told her that Kosma had been transferred to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Teaching Hospital, Karapitiya. Leelaseeli rushed to the hospital to see her brother in the ICU, and asked a doctor there about her brother's condition. The doctor replied that Kosma was suffering from a brain hemorrhage and that he was close to the next world (meaning that his life was in imminent danger).

According to Leelaseeli, Kosma died on May 27 at the Karapitiya Hospital. On June 2, the victim's mother, Vitharana Varalieshamy gave evidence at an inquest held at the Ratgama Magistrate's Court. Leelaseeli says that at the time of his arrest, her brother was in good health and therefore the only reason for his untimely death was the inhuman torture conducted by the police.

However, neither Ratgama police nor the prison authorities in Galle accepted that any ill treatment in their premises occured. The prison authorities claimed that Kosma was drug dependant and that he developed withdrawal symptoms while in the prison. According to them, the injuries sustained by the victim may have been caused as a result of an assault by fellow prisoners if not by a fall.

In the meantime, a retrospective scene visit to the Galle prison was performed on May 30. An autopsy on the victim's body was also performed on May 29 and a statement on the autopsy findings was provided to the investigating police authorities on June 1. The Judicial Medical Officer (JMO) was also called to give oral testimony on the autopsy findings by the Galle Magistrate on June 15. The autopsy report states that the cause of death was cranio-cerebral injuries and secondary brain injury with cerebral infraction. It said that there were injuries of multiple ages on the external examination and some superficial injuries are more than 7 days old. The report concluded that the fatal injuries were to the head. It also stated that the musculo-cutaneous injuries observed were not compatible with a fall and would have most likely been caused by blunt force.

In light of the above, the AHRC calls for a speedy and thorough inquiry into the alleged torture of the victim by the Ratgama police which resulted in his death. We also urge the West Bengal State Government to punish police personnel responsible for Kosma's death if the allegation of torture is to be found true. Also, any attempts to conceal this grave miscarriage of justice must be prevented. 

SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please send a letter, fax or email to the persons listed below and urge them to immediately intervene in this serious case.  
 
Sample letter:


Dear __________,

Re: SRI LANKA: Custodial death of a man who was allegedly tortured by the Ratgama police

Name of the victim: Kosma Sumanasiri, 41 years old, unmarried and a casual labourer by occupation
Address of the victim: 19, Panvila, Mavadavila, Ratgama, Galle division, Southern Range, Sri Lanka
Alleged perpetrators: Police personnel attached to the Ratgama Police Station
Date of incident: Arrested on 20 May 2005, allegedly tortured by the Ratgama police while in custody and died on 27 May 2005

I am writing to bring to your attention the alleged torture and death of Kosma Sumansiri by the Ratgama police.

According to the information I have received, Kosma was arrested along with three friends, the victim's brother-in-law R.H. Chandanasiri, Nihal Robert, and Jayadeeva, by the Ratgama police on the charge of gambling on 20 May 2005. They were remanded at the Galle prison on the same day. However, Kosma died on May 27, three days after being transferred to the Teaching Hospital in Karapitiya. According to the witness, the police brutally tortured Kosma until he bled from his ears and become unconscious because he withdrew his finger when his fingerprints were being obtained. Kosma's family said that when they visited the prison on May 21 and 23, they could see the other three but the prison authorities did not allow them to meet the victim. They also confirmed that at the time of arrest the victim was in good health.

The Ratgama police and Galle prison authorities deny any ill treatment of Kosma on their premises and claim that the injuries sustained by the victim may have caused by an assault by the fellow prisoners, if not by a fall. However, the autopsy report mentioned that the fatal injuries were in the head and that these injuries were not compatible with a fall, but instead was caused by blunt force.

The above evidence shows that Kosma's death was caused from brutal police torture. Therefore, I strongly urge you to conduct a speedy and thorough investigation into the incident and if the allegation of torture is to be found true, the responsible officers should be punished according to law. I also urge you to prevent any attempt by the perpetrators to conceal this grave miscarriage of justice. The victim's family must be compensated.

Yours truly, 


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SEND A LETTER TO:

1. Mr. K. C. Kamalasabesan
Attorney General
Attorney General's Department
Colombo 12
SRI LANKA
Fax: +94 11 2 436 421
Email: attorney@sri.lanka.net or counsel@sri.lanka.net

2. Mr. Chandra Fernando
Inspector General of Police (IGP)
New Secretariat
Colombo 1
SRI LANKA
Fax: +94 11 2 440440/327877

3.

Mr. Mahinda Rajapakse
Prime Minister
Cambridge Place
Colombo
7
SRI LANKA
Fax: +94 11 2 682905 / 575454
E-mail: secpm@sltnet.lk or bradmanw@slt.lk

4. Mr. Ranjith Abeysuriya
Chairperson
National Police Commission
3rd Floor, Rotunda Towers,
109 Galle Road, Colombo
03.
SRI LANKA
Tel: +94 11 23865
Fax: +94 11 2 669 528
Fax HOME: +94 11 2 674148
E-mail: polcom@sltnet.lk

5. Dr. Radhika Coomaraswamy
Chairperson 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

6. Prof. Manfred Nowak
Special Rapporteur on the Question of Torture
Attn: Mr. Safir Syed
C/o OHCHR-UNOG
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Tel: +41 22 917 9230
Fax: +41 22 917 9016 (general)


Thank you.

Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)

Document Type :
Urgent Appeal Case
Document ID :
UA-111-2005
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.