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SRI LANKA: Brutal torture of a 50-year-old man by the Kekirawa police

August 30, 2006

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ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION - URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMME

Urgent Appeal

31 August 2006
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UA-282-2006: SRI LANKA: Brutal torture of a 50-year-old man by the Kekirawa police

SRI LANKA: Torture; impunity; un-rule of law
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Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes to inform you about the alleged brutal torture of a 50 year-old farmer by allegedly intoxicated Kekirawa police officers on 24 August 2006, demonstrating yet another example of the complete and total breakdown of Sri Lanka's policing system. 

At around 11:00am on August 24, Suddage Sirisena was leaving a meeting at his village's Buddhist temple in Millewa, Maradankadawela, Sri Lanka, when two police officers on motorcycles signaled for him to approach them at the gate.  The officers were in uniform and had Mr. Sirisena's son Piyasiri with them who had originally pointed his father out to the police.   

As soon as Mr. Sirisena approached the policemen, he was immediately assaulted by the officer wearing badge number 47934.  He was struck on his ears and was then forced to lay his head on the ground while the policeman punched him on the back of his neck.  The policeman then viciously kicked Mr. Sirisena before ordering him to get onto one of the motorcycles.  When Mr. Sirisena refused to comply with the order, one of the officers grabbed his helmet which was dangling the motorbikes handles and smashed into his face so hard that he lost consciousness.

Mr. Sirisena awoke and found himself under a tree lying in a pool of his own blood beneath a crowd of onlookers.  He felt dazed and was unable to comprehend what had befallen him. A relative and his neighbor then helped take him to a local hospital where he told the doctors that he had been assaulted by the police. However, the village hospital was apparently not equipped to treat his injuries and refused to ward him. He then was rushed to the Kekirawa hospital where he was admitted to Ward 1 and he once again gave the details of what had happened to him to the doctors. 

Mr. Sirisena says that as a result of the assault he suffered two dislodged front teeth. Three other teeth were loosened and had to be extracted at the hospital. On August 28, Suddage was discharged from the hospital after being cleared by the Judicial Medical Officer (JMO).

Mr. Sirisena also mentioned that on the August 25, six policemen from the Kekirawa police station visited him to record his statement.  However, Mr. Sirisena felt that the questioning was meant to intimidate him rather than to obtain information about the incident. It is also obvious that the Kekirawa police cannot conduct an impartial inquiry into the incident against their fellow officers.  

Since Mr. Sirisena was discharged from hospital, he alleges that he had been constantly harassed by various policemen attached to the Kekirawa police, including the perpetrator who has tried to amicably settle the matter. He says that the perpetrator now begs him not to pursue the issue in consideration for the welfare of the policeman's family. He also says that on August 26, the Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) of Anuradhapura visited the scene of the incident and record statements of witnesses.

Mr. Sirisena is still not aware of why he was so brutally assaulted by the Kekirawa police but suspects that his son — who is a suspected illicit liquor trader in the area, as well as an army deserter and who has a personal animosity with him — induced the police to beat him.

SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please write to the relevant Sri Lankan government authorities listed below and express your concern about this case. Please urge them to take immediate legal action against the police officer (Badge #47934) and to provide the victim adequate compensation.

Sample letter:

Dear ____________,

Sri Lanka: Brutal torture of a 50-year-old man by the Kekirawa police

Name of the victim: Mr. Suddage Sirisena, aged 50, married with two children. Farmer by occupation, residing in Millewa, Maradankadawela, Sri Lanka
Alleged perpetrator: Officers attached to the Kekirawa police including policeman No. 47934 (prime culprit)
Date of incident: 24 August 2006

I am writing to voice my total condemnation over the alleged violent torture of a 50 year-old farmer by an intoxicated police officer from the Kekirawa police station on 24 August 2006. 

I have received information that around 11:00am, local farmer Mr. Suddage Sirisena was leaving a meeting at his village's Buddhist temple in Millewa, Maradankadawela, when two police officers on motorcycles signaled for him to approach them at the gate.  The officers were in uniform and were accompanied by Mr. Sirisena's son Piyasiri who had originally pointed his father out to the police.

As soon as Mr. Sirisena approached the policemen he was immediately assaulted by the officer with badge number 47934.  He was struck on his ears and was then forced to lay his head on the ground while the policeman punched him on the back of his neck.  The policeman also grabbed his dangling helmet from the motorbikes handles and smashed into his face so hard that he lost all consciousness.           

Mr. Sirisena awoke a while later under a tree lying in a pool of his own blood.  He was beaten so badly that he felt dazed and was unable to comprehend what had befallen him. Thanks to a relative and his neighbor, he was taken to the local hospital. However, as the village hospital was apparently not equipped to treat his injuries, he was taken to the Kekirawa hospital where he was admitted to Ward 1. The assault on Mr. Sirisena resulted in him suffering two dislodged front teeth, while three other teeth were loosened and had to be extracted at the hospital. On August 28, Suddage was discharged from the hospital after being cleared by the Judicial Medical Officer (JMO).

Meanwhile, I am deeply concerned the fact that on August 25, Mr. Sirisena was approached by six policemen from the Kekirawa police station who wished to record his statement.  However, according to the victim, the questioning was meant to intimidate him rather than to obtain information about the incident. I am also wondering why the Kekirawa police, where the perpetrator belongs to, were assigned to investigate this case as they obviously cannot conduct an impartial inquiry into the incident against their fellow officer.  

Subsequently, Mr. Sirisena reported that he has been constantly harassed by various policemen attached to the Kekirawa police, including the perpetrator who has tried to amicably settle the matter. He says that the perpetrator now begs him not to pursue the issue in consideration for the welfare of the policeman's family. He also says that on August 26, the Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) of Anuradhapura visited the scene of the incident and record statements of witnesses. However, till date no serious action has been taken to investigate the incident and arrest the responsible officer.

It also upsets me to hear that Mr. Sirisena is still not aware of why he was so brutally assaulted by the Kekirawa police.  Although, he suspects that his son — who is a suspected illicit liquor trader in the area, as well as an Army deserter and who has a personal animosity with him — had induced the police to beat him, it remains completely unacceptable that no legal action has been taken up against the perpetrator.  

This is yet another example of how the legal system in Sri Lanka is completely and totally dysfunctional in that the police are able to torture and threaten innocent people without any consequence. I urge you to immediately take legal action against the police officer involved and provide adequate compensation for the victim. The investigation of this case should not be conducted by the Kekirawa police to ensure its impartiality. Please also inquire about the alleged harassment of the victim by the Kekirawa police and take proper disciplinary action against those responsible if it is proven true. 

I trust that you will do your best to insure the security and dignity of this victim is restored.

Yours sincerely,


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PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTERS TO:

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

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

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: npcgen@sltnet.lk

5. Prof. Manfred Nowak
Special Rapporteur on the Question of Torture
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-282-2006
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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.