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SRI LANKA: Illegal detention, torture and fabrication of charges by the Wanduramba police

July 16, 2006

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ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION - URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMME

17 July 2006
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UA-235-2006: SRI LANKA: Illegal detention, torture and fabrication of charges by the Wanduramba police

SRI LANKA: Illegal detention; torture and fabrication of charges
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Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes to inform you of a situation regarding B. Nimal, who was illegally detained by the Wanduramba police because his son had disappeared with a young lady. It is suspected that the parents of the lady influenced the police into detaining Mr. Nimal for the purpose of obtaining the whereabouts of his son (and the lady).  Whilst in detention, Mr. Nimal was brutally tortured by the Officer-in-Charge of the Wandurambura police station and then implicated on false charges. Furthermore, the conduct of the Galagedera Acting Magistrate, Ms. Buddhika J. Edirisinghe is highly questionable.

On 18 December 2005 at about 9:30pm, several policemen from the Wanduramba police station visited Mr. B. Nimal's home and demanded to know the whereabouts of his 23-year-old son. The police informed Mr. Nimal that his son had run away with a young woman and gave Mr. Nimal two days to produce his son at the police station.

Thereafter, on December 22 between 10:30-11:00pm, while Mr. Nimal, his wife and younger son were asleep, the police again visited their home and knocked on the door. Mr. Nimal opened the door and saw two policemen at his doorstep, one in uniform and one in civilian dress. The one in uniform asked Mr. Nimal "where is your son?" Mr. Nimal replied that he did not know where his son was. The police then insisted that in the absence of his son he had to accompany them to the police station and then forced Mr. Nimal into their vehicle. When his wife pleaded with the policemen not to arrest her husband, they told her to go to the police station the next morning to claim her husband. Mr. Nimal was then taken to the Wanduramba Police Station.

The policemen, who escorted Mr. Nimal, took him to the Officer-in-Charge (OIC) and said, "Here sir, we brought him." The OIC asked, "Where is your son?" Mr Nimal reiterated that he did not know. The OIC then began assaulting him in the most brutal and inhuman fashion all the while demanding to know the whereabouts of his son. Mr. Nimal pleaded with the OIC not to hit him as he did not know where his son was. But the OIC insisted that he knew and continued to torture him. The OIC, then grabbed Mr Nimal by his shirt collar and lifting him, threw his body against the bars of the holding cell. According to Nimal, his head and spine slammed against the bars causing him unbearable agony. The OIC had then pushed him into the cell and slammed the door shut.

Mr. Nimal was locked up until the evening of the following day (December 23). When his wife visited him, she too was forced on to a bench and detained at the police station by the OIC. At about 4:30pm, both their statements were recorded and they were forced to sign them without knowing what the police had written. They were then taken to the Beddegama Magistrate's Court and as the Magistrate was absent, they were then produced before the Galagedera Acting Magistrate, Ms. Buddhika J. Edirisinghe. Though the victims attempted to explain matters, they were remanded for more than a week until 2 January 2006.

Ms. Buddhika J. Edirisinghe, who was acting magistrate on the day Mr. Nimal and his wife were produced before the Beddegama Magistrate Court, is now representing Mr. Nimal and his wife at the bail hearing. The ethical conduct of the legal professional is highly questionable as she first appeared in the capacity of the magistrate and then as counsel for the victims. Ironically, they were charged with some offence, of which neither had any idea and strangely, their lawyer did not take the trouble to inform them of the details. The next court date is fixed for 18 September 2006.

According to Mr. Nimal, the problem began when his 23-year old son fell in love with an 18-year-old girl whose parents opposed the relationship. They then ran away together and got married. He strongly believes that the girl's relatives had unduly influenced the Wanduramba police to harass him and his wife. Finally on 25 December 2005, Mr. Nimal's son and his bride visited his parents’ home. That day, a policeman named Samaranayake from the Wanduramba police came to their home and took away their marriage certificate. When they requested that he return the certificate, the policeman told them that he had handed it over to the courts.

To date, Mr. Nimal and his wife are unaware of the charges against them. When they requested a copy of the court record from their lawyer, she did not oblige. When they attempted to obtain the records directly from the court registrar, the registrar also refused. Thus, Mr Nimal and his wife are wondering how they can successfully face up to the charges filed against them, if they are unaware of what they actually are. They now strongly believe that the police, together with the lawyer and court staff, are attempting to thwart justice.

Therefore on behalf of the victims, the AHRC urges that:

1. Immediate investigations are conducted into the conduct of the Wanduramba police to inquiry on what basis they arrested and detained Mr. Nimal and his wife for the marriage of their son, which was a matter between consenting adults and within the confines of the law;
2. Immediate legal and disciplinary action is carried out into the brutal torture of Mr. Nimal;
3. The perpetrators are indicted under the CAT Act, (Act No 22 of 1994);
4. An inquiry into the ethical conduct of acting magistrate cum lawyer Buddhika J Edirisinghe is conducted;
5. The victims are afforded a copy of the case records;
6. The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka begin an immediate inquiry into the incident and offer compensation to the victims for the physical and mental suffering caused by the police.

SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please write to the relevant Sri Lankan authorities listed below and express your concern about this case.

To support this appeal, please click:

Sample letter:

Dear _________,

SRI LANKA: Illegal detention, torture and fabrication of charges by the Wanduramba police

Name of the victim: B Nimal, aged 43, a mason by occupation, married with four children, resides in Hiralugoda, Bataduwa, Sri Lanka.
Alleged perpetrators: Officer-in-Charge (OIC) and other officers attached to the Wanduramba police station
Date of illegal arrest and detention: Arrested on 18 December 2005 and remanded in a prison for about a week for allegedly fabricated charges by the Wanduramba police. Next court hearing is set for 18 September 2006 but the victims are still not aware of the details of their charges due to the inaction of their lawyer

This is a case in which parents have been arrested, tortured and pressed with fabricated charges filed by the Wanduramba police due to a love affair which their son had developed with girl. The girl's family is allegedly influencing the police to harass the parents and to hand over the son to the police. If the son is handed over the police are likely to torture him and file fabricated charges in order to get him to give up his love affair.

I am shocked that the Sri Lankan police are allowed to interfere into the private lives of people and to use torture, arrest and illegal detention for these purposes. I therefore urge you to conduct an immediate investigation into this case to prosecute offenders under CAT Act No. 22 of 1994. I also urge you to immediately take disciplinary action against those responsible for Mr. Nimal's torture. I further urge you to take appropriate action to release the parents from all charges and pay compensation to the victims. Meanwhile, the victims should be afforded a copy of the case records.

Yours truly,


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SEND YOUR LETTERS TO:

1. Mr. Chandra Fernando
Inspector General of Police
New Secretariat
Colombo 1
SRI LANKA
Fax: +94 11 2 440440/327877
Email: chandralaw@police.lk

2. Mr. K. C. Kamalasabesan
Attorney General
Attorney General's Department
Colombo 12
SRI LANKA
Fax: +94 11 2 436421
Email: attorney@sri.lanka.net

3. 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

4. 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: polcom@sltnet.lk

5. 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 (for Secretary to President) 
Email: secretary@presidentsoffice.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 9179016 (general)

Thank you.

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

Document Type :
Urgent Appeal Case
Document ID :
UA-235-2006
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.