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SRI LANKA: Alleged torture and extra judicial killing of a man by the Kadawatha police

July 19, 2005

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ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION - URGENT APPEALS PROGRAM

20 July 2005
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UA-124-2005: SRI LANKA: Alleged torture and extra judicial killing of a man by the Kadawatha police

SRI LANKA: Extra judicial killings; torture; police cover-up
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Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes to inform you of the alleged torture and extra-judicial killing of a man by the Kadawatha police, Sri Lanka. On 30 April 2005, Damikka Dissanayake had been enjoying himself at a musical show with friends. Later in the night, however, Damikka was seen being led away from the show by police officers from Kadawatha Police Station. Damikka’s body was found some time later at the bottom of a well near his house, and blood stains were located nearby.

Though the Judicial Medical Officer gave the cause of death as ‘drowning’, 36 injuries were found on Damikka’s body, confirming that severe torture took place prior to his death. As a result of this, Damikka’s family and friends believe that the police tortured then killed Damikka, before disposing of his body in the well.

Damikka’s death requires your urgent intervention. Please write to the relevant authorities provided below voicing your extreme concern surrounding this case. An independent and impartial investigation must be conducted by the Special Unit of the Criminal Investigation Bureau and not by local police. The investigations must establish the police’s reason for detaining Damikka in the first instance, and what took place once he was in their custody. It must investigate the reasons for the 36 injuries found on Damikka’s body and establish if the police are responsible for these and Damikka’s death. If it is found that they are, then those police officers must be brought before a court of law without delay. If found guilty, full punishment according to the law must be imposed. Compensation should also be provided to Damikka’s family.

An enquiry should also be launched into the conduct of police personnel at the Kadawatha police station. This is not the first allegation of an extra-judicial killing made against this police station and therefore an investigation should be conducted to ascertain why this is the case. In particular, the supervisors and more senior personnel of that station must be questioned.

Finally, the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka should look into the manner in which their declared policy of zero tolerance of torture is being so blatantly flouted at police stations all throughout the country.

Urgent Appeals Desk
Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)
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INFORMATION:

Name of the victim: R. Damikka Dissanayake of No. 294, Mahara Prison Road, Ragama
Name of the Complainant: Kara Dissanayake (father of victim)
Alleged perpetrators: Police officers attached to the Kadawatha Police Station

Details:

Damikka Dissanayake and his friends went to a musical show on 30 April 2005.  During the show, according to friends, they all danced and enjoyed themselves.  After a short while the friends found that Damikka was missing.  Upon looking for him, one of the friends allegedly saw Damikka being held by a police officer by his shirt collar and two other police officers were also holding and preventing him form leaving. There were also four other officers at the scene.  These police officers then allegedly took Damikka away.

Later one of the friends inquired from one of the officers who was there at the time of the apparent arrest of Damikka and asked after his whereabouts.  The alleged reply was: “we have sent him off”.

According to police report no. B1703/05, filed at the Magistrate’s Court by the Kadawatha Police, the body of Damikka was found in a well close to his house. The well is approximately 20 feet deep, having water up to about four and a half feet and a width of seven and a half feet.  On the wall of the house near the well one blood stain was located and two further blood stains were found on the parapet of the well.  When the body was examined by the Judicial Medical Officer he noted 36 injuries on the body of the victim but none of which were purported to be fatal injuries.  The medical officer’s report gave the cause of death as ‘drowning.’  The court verdict based on the medical report was one of death due to drowning.

The parents and the friends are calling for an inquiry into the circumstances of the arrest, the injuries found on the body and how his body came to be found in the well.  No evidence has explained so far as to the circumstances surrounding the manner in which his body came to be in the well.  There is no evidence whatsoever to indicate any suicide attempt.

Under these circumstances Damikka’s family and the friends believe that the police killed him and disposed of his body in the well.  As the officers of the same police station are conducting inquiries into the death they suspect that the matter will be covered up and no proper inquiry will be made.

At this same police station, the Asian Human Rights Commission previously reported on another mysterious death of Garlin Kankanamge Sanjeewa, a 25-year-old soldier who was found to be hanging at the police station by his trouser belt.  A postmortem was hurriedly conducted where the mother of the deceased was contacted to identify the body only.  The medical inquiry concluded that it was suicide.  However, the mother kept the body buried in her own family compound in order to get a fresh inquiry as she believed that it was a custodial death.  Later at the request of the mother a second inquest was held and a report is pending. (See further: UA-43-2003).

SUGGESTED ACTION:

Please write to the relevant authorities listed below voicing your concern for this case. Above all, an impartial and independent inquiry must be conducted by a specialized criminal investigation unit. Failure to take such action will inevitably hamper any prospect of justice in this case.
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Sample letter:

Dear _______________,

SRI LANKA: Alleged torture and extra judicial killing of a man by the Kadawatha police

Name of the victim: R. Damikka Dissanayake of No. 294, Mahara Prison Road, Ragama
Name of the Complainant: Kara Dissanayake (father of victim)
Alleged perpetrators: Police officers attached to the Kadawatha Police Station

I am writing to voice my strong concern for the alleged torture and extra-judicial killing of a man by the Kadawatha police, Sri Lanka. On 30 April 2005, Damikka Dissanayake had been enjoying himself at a musical show with friends. Later in the night, however, Damikka was seen being led away from the show by police officers from Kadawatha Police Station. Damikka’s body was located some time later at the bottom of a well near his house, and blood stains were found nearby.

Though the Judicial Medical Officer gave the cause of death as ‘drowning’, 36 injuries were found on Damikka’s body, confirming that severe torture took place prior to his death. As a result of this, Damikka’s family and friends believe that the police tortured then killed Damikka, before disposing of his body in the well.

Such allegations are of the utmost serious nature and urgently require your intervention. An independent and impartial investigation must be conducted by the Special Unit of the Criminal Investigation Bureau and not by local police. The investigations must establish the police’s reason for detaining Damikka in the first instance, and what took place once he was in their custody. It must investigate the reasons for the 36 injuries found on Damikka’s body and establish if the police are responsible for these and Damikka’s death. If it is found that they are, then those police officers must be brought before a court of law without delay. If found guilty, full punishment according to the law must be imposed. Compensation should also be provided to Damikka’s family.

An enquiry should also be launched into the conduct of police personnel at the Kadawatha police station. I am aware that this is not the first allegation of an extra-judicial killing made against this police station and therefore an investigation should be conducted to ascertain why this is the case. In particular, the supervisors and more senior personnel of that station must be questioned.

Finally, the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka should look into the manner in which their declared policy of zero tolerance of torture is being so blatantly flouted at police stations all throughout the country.

I look to your intervention in this case.

Yours sincerely,

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PLEASE WRITE TO:

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

2. 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 

3.  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

4. 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 

5. 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)

6. Mr. Philip Alston
Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary, or Arbitrary Executions
Atten: Lydie Ventre
Room 3-016
c/o OHCHR-UNOG
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Tel: +41 22 917 9155
Fax: +41 22 917 9006 (general)


Thank you.

Urgent Appeals Program
Asian Human Rights Commission

Document Type :
Urgent Appeal Case
Document ID :
UA-124-2005
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.