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SRI LANKA: Brutal torture of a man who was wrongly arrested by police officers

November 20, 2006

URGENT APPEAL GENERAL URGENT APPEAL GENERAL URGENT APPEAL GENERAL

ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION – URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMME

20 November 2006
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UA-374-2006: SRI LANKA: Brutal torture of a man who was wrongly arrested by police officers

SRI LANKA: torture in the custody: deficient investigation by police
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Dear Friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information about the torture of a man who was arrested falsely by police in Seeduwa, Negombo Division, Sri Lanka. The victim was arrested in relation to the charge of robbery of the house in Prasanna Sandaruwan which is under the area of control of the Seeduwa police station. The victim had allegedly claimed that he was not involved in the robbery.  However the police allegedly tortured him in order to force him to confess his involvement in this crime.

CASE DETAILS:

At around 11:30 am on 27 October 2006, several police officers took Mr. Pasquelge Don Dudley Mervyn, a 56-year-old casual labourer to the Seeduwa police station in Seeduwa. Negombo District II, Negombo Division, Sri Lanka and arrested him in charge related to a robbery of a house of Prasanna Sandaruwan, which Mr. Pasquelge claims that he did not commit. The mother of the victim, Mrs. Pasquelge Dona Violet Lilian, learned of the detention of her son in the evening of the day he was arrested.

When Lilian visited her son to the Seeduwa police station with food, Dudley told her that he had been severely tortured by police officers and had been forced to admit to the robbery that he did not commit. Lilian saw the injuries on his body and realised that her son was in great pain.

On November 2 when Lilian again visited the police station to see her son, she witnessed that he was not in the holding cell but was seated on a chair in the police mess and handcuffed to a steel bed by his right hand. 

Shockingly, Dudley had been detained at the police station for 7 days until November 3 without being produced before a magistrate. A person arrested must be brought before court within 24 hours after the arrest according to law. Furthermore he had allegedly been tortured constantly by the police while he was in custody.

The AHRC demands that the brutal torture of a man who has been falsely charged should never be allowed to go unchallenged. This fact reveals the inefficiency of Sri Lankan police which does not have the training and capability to conduct investigations without resulting to brutal torture.

SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please write a letter to the relevant Sri Lankan authorities listed below to urge them to conduct an inquiry into this case of wrongful arrest and severe torture of a man by the police. Please also urge the government authorities to provide necessary compensation for the victim’s mental and physical pain due to severe assaults carried by police.

To support this appeal, please click:  

Sample letter:
 
Dear ________,

Sri Lanka: Alleged false charge and torture of a man by police officers

Name of victim: Pasquelge Don Dudley Mervyn from Seeduwa, Negombo Division, Sri Lanka
Alleged perpetrators: Police officers attached to the Seeduwa police station, Negombo District II, Negombo Division, Sri Lanka
Date of incident: 27 October 2006 to 3 November 2006
Place of incidence: Seeduwa police station

I am disgusted to learn that in the morning of October 27, several police officers took Mr. Pasquelge Don Dudley Mervyn, a 56-year-old casual labourer in Seeduwa to the Seeduwa police station and arrested him in charge related to a robbery of a house of Prasanna Sandaruwan, which Mr. Pasquelge claims that he did not commit. The mother of the victim, Mrs. Pasquelge Dona Violet Lilian learned of the detention of her son in the evening of the day he was arrested.

When Lilian visited her son to the Seeduwa police station with food, Dudley told her that he had been severely tortured by police officers and had been forced to admit to the robbery that he did not commit. Lilian saw the injuries on his body and realised that her son was in great pain.

Dudley had been detained at the police station for 7 days until November 3 without being produced before a magistrate. Furthermore he had allegedly been tortured constantly by the police while he was in custody.

The brutal torture of a man who has been falsely charged should never be allowed to go unchallenged. This is yet another example of the fact that the Sri Lankan police do not have the training and capability to conduct investigations without resulting to brutal torture.


Sincerely yours,


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SEND YOUR LETTER TO:

1. 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
Email: secretary@presidentsoffice.lk

2. Mr. Ratnasiri Wickremanayake
Prime Minister
Temple Trees
Galle Road, Colombo 03
SRI LANKA
Tel: +94 11 2 575317-8 or 370 737-8
Fax: +94 11 2 575454

3. Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa
Minister
Ministry of Defence, Public Security, Law and Order
15/5, Baladaksha Mawatha,
Colombo 03,
Sri Lanka.
Tel: 94-11 2 430860-9, 430878-9 or 435879 (for the secretary)
Fax: 94 11 2 446300 or 421529
E-mail: secdef@sltnet.lk

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

5. Mr. Victor Perera
Inspector General of Police
New Secretariat
Colombo 1
SRI LANKA
Fax: +94 11 2 440440/327877
E-mail: igp@police.lk

6. 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

7. 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

8. Prof. Manfred Nowak
Special Rapporteur on the Question of Torture
Attn: Mr. Safir Syed
OHCHR-UNOG
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Tel: +41 22 917 9230
Fax: +41 22 9179016 (general) (ATTN: SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR TORTURE)


Thank you.

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


Document Type :
Urgent Appeal Case
Document ID :
UA-374-2006
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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.