Home / News / Urgent Appeals / SRI LANKA: A man died after being tortured by the Mahawela Police
 

SRI LANKA: A man died after being tortured by the Mahawela Police

April 8, 2004

URGENT ACTION URGENT ACTION URGENT ACTION URGENT ACTION URGENT ACTION

ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION - URGENT APPEALS PROGRAM

9 April 2004

---------------------------------------------------------------------
UA-35-2004: SRI LANKA: A man died after being tortured by the Mahawela Police 

SRI LANKA: Extrajudicial killing; Torture
---------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is gravely concerned of extrajudicial killing of Dehiwatte Gedera Jayathilaka by the police at the Mahawela Police Station on 9 March 2004.

According to the information we have received, the victim was arbitrarily arrested by the police from the Yatawatte Police Security Barrier on charge of possessing illicit liquor even though he had no liquor in his belongings. The victim was brought to the Mahawela Police Station where he was allegedly tortured by the police. He was released on bail, but the next morning he was found dead in front of his neighbor's house. The Judicial Medical Officer (J.M.O.) of Kandy, who examined the victim¡Çs body, has certified at the inquest that the victim's ribs were broken and bruises were found on his body. Even though the victim's son lodged a complaint to the Mahawela Police Station about the torture of his father by the police which brought his father's death, his statement was not properly written by the police.

Please send a letter to the local authorities and request them to conduct a thorough and independent investigation into this matter and bring the perpetrators to justice as soon as possible.

Urgent Appeals Desk
Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)
------------------------------------------------------

DETAILED INFORMATION:

Name of the victim: Dehiwatte Gedera Jayathilaka, 45, married with one son
Address of the victim: No. 26, Golangala Village, Egodamulla, Devilla, Yatawatte
Alleged perpetrators:
1. Mr. Bandaranayake, the Sub Inspector (S.I.) of the Yatawatte Police Security Barrier
2. Mr. Nawarathne, the Officer In Charge (O.I.C.) of the Mahawela Police Station
3.  Officers attached to the Mahawela Police Station  
Date of the incident: 9 March 2004
Place of the incident: Mahawela Police Station

Case details:

At around 1:00 pm of 9 March 2004, Dehiwatte Gedera Jayathilaka was arrested by the officers from the Yatawatte Police Security Barrier, led by Sub Inspector (S.I.) Bandaranayake, that comes under the Mahawela Police, when he was in a bus station. The police accused Jayathilaka of possessing illicit liquor even though they could not find anything from his belongings. Then, the police took him to the Mahawela Police Station.

At about 6:30 p.m. of the same day, Jayathilaka's son, D. G. Saliyathilaka Rupakumara, was informed by the Mahawela Police that his father was in custody at the police station, and was asked to come to the station to give to bail his father out. He went to the police station along with his relative named Senarath Chandrasekara by a three-wheeler. When he met his father at the police station, Jayathilaka told him that the police officers brutally assaulted him and he was suffering from severe pain on his whole body due to torture. After Rupakumara signed the bail form, Jayathilaka was released at around 11:00 p.m and they left the police station by a three wheeler.

On the way to home, Jayathilake asked his son to buy a bottle of wine saying that he wanted to have a drink to relieve the severe pain. Then Rupakumara went to a wine shop at Yatawatte and came back to the three- wheeler after 10 minutes. Even though he wanted to take his father to see a doctor, Jayathilake said he would go to the hospital the next morning.

Because their house was located in a hilly area, Jayathilake got out of the three wheeler and walked towards the house, while his son went to park the three-wheeler at the near place which is 350m far from his house. When Rupakumara came to his house, he found that his father was not there. Because his father normally comes home late at night, he thought that his father went somewhere and went to sleep keeping the front door open.

On the following day morning (10 March 2004), Jayathilake's body was found in front of the house of his neighbor named Somawathie. Rupakumara has made a complaint at the Mahawela Police Station about the torture of his father by the police which brought his father's death. But according to him, his statement was not properly written by the police. At the same day, the people of the village gathered in Mahawela Town and protested against Mr. Nawaratne, the Officer In Charge (O.I.C ) of Mahawela Police Station and S.I  Bandaranayake.

The victim's body was taken to the Kandy hospital for the postmortem and sent back to his house on 11 March 2004. The Judicial Medical Officer (J.M.O.) of Kandy, who examined the victim¡Çs body, has certified at the inquest that the victim's ribs were broken and bruises were found on his body. It is reported that all the funeral arrangements for the victim were done by the Mahawela Police.

SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please send a letter, fax or email to the addresses below and express your concern of this case.

1. Ms. Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga
President
Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka
Presidential Secretariat
Colombo-1, Sri Lanka
Fax: +94 1 333 703

2. Hon. 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 PC
Chairman National Police Commission
69-1 Ward Place, Colombo 7
SRI LANKA
Fax: +94 11 2 669 128 / 691 926
Fax HOME: +94 11 2 674148

4. Dr. Radhika Coomaraswamy
Chairperson
National 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. Mr. Theo C. van Boven
Special Rapporteur on the Question of Torture
OHCHR-UNOG, 8-14 Avenue de la Paix
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Fax: +41 22 917 9016

6. Ms. Asma Jahangir
Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions
c/o OHCHR-UNOG, 1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Tel: +92 42 5763 234
Fax: +41 22 917 9006 / +92 42 5763 236
Email: webadmin.hchr@unog.ch or asmalaw@brain.net.pk

Sample letter:

Dear

Re: A man died after being tortured by the Mahawela Police

Name of the victim: Dehiwatte Gedera Jayathilaka, 45, married with one son
Address of the victim: No. 26, Golangala Village, Egodamulla, Devilla, Yatawatte
Alleged perpetrators:
1. Mr. Bandaranayake, the Sub Inspector (S.I.) of the Yatawatte Police Security Barrier
2. Mr. Nawarathne, the Officer In Charge (O.I.C.) of the Mahawela Police Station
3.  Officers attached to the Mahawela Police Station 
Date of the arbitrary arrest and torture: 9 March 2004
Place of the torture: Mahawela Police Station

I am shocked to learn the death of Dehiwatte Gedera Jayathilaka, who was brutally tortured by the police at the Mahawela Police Station on 9 March 2004.

According to the information I have received, the police arbitrarily arrested the victim without any reliable evidence and severely tortured him which brought his death. He found dead near his neighbor's house after he was released on bail from the police station. The medical report of Judicial Medical Officer (J.M.O.) of Kandy, which certified that the victim's ribs were broken and bruises were ound on his body, clearly shows that the victim died of severe injuries due to torture by the police.

Therefore, I strongly urge you to order a speedy and thorough inquiry into this case and bring the persons responsible for the death of the victim to justice as soon as possible. I also request you to suspend the alleged perpetrators from the service while the investigation is going on. The victim must be compensated. I further urge the government of Sri Lanka to implement the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT) into domestic law and take strong action to stop the long custom of torture which has been practiced at police stations in Sri Lanka.

Sincerely yours



-----------------------

Thank you.

Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)

Document Type :
Urgent Appeal Case
Document ID :
UA-35-2004
Countries :
Issues :
Document Actions
Share |
Subscribe to our Mailing List
Follow AHRC
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.