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SRI LANKA: Arbitrary arrest and torture of a man by police officers at the Kuliyapitiya Police Station

December 11, 2003

URGENT ACTION URGENT ACTION URGENT ACTION URGENT ACTION

ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION - URGENT APPEALS PROGRAM

11 December 2003
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UA-78-2003: SRI LANKA: Arbitrary arrest and torture of a man by police officers at the Kuliyapitiya Police Station

SRI LANKA: Arbitrary arrest; Torture; Police inaction
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Dear friends

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received another torture case from Sri Lanka. A man named Bamunuarachchi Pathiranalage Sathkumara was brutally tortured by the police officers at the Kuliyapitiya Police Station.

Please send a letter to the local authorities and request them to correct this matter immediately and take serious action to eliminate the widely spread custom of torture at police stations in Sri Lanka.

Urgent Appeals Desk
Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)
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Name of the victim: Bamunuarachchi Pathiranalage Sathkumara
Alleged perpetrators: Mr. Pushpakumara and other police officers attached to the Kuliyapitiya Police Station
Date of illegal arrest and torture: 1 November 2003

Case details:

At 10:30 am on 1 November 2003, Sathkumara was arrested by two police officers in civilian clothes from the Kuliyapitiya Police Station at the house of his friend Sirimalli in Deranagama village. The police did not give Sathkumara any reason for his arrest. On the way to the police station, the police took on a woman got the trishaw. Sathkumara did not know her name but recognized that she lives in front of Sirimalli's house.

At the Kuliyapitiya Police Station, the police took Sathkumara into a room and ordered him to remove his shirt, belt, and wristwatch. Then the police started to severely beat him with a wooden pole. The police asked Sathkumara whether he had into a house and stolen some goods, of which he knew nothing. Later he found out that a burglary had occurred in the house of the woman who got into the trishaw.

In the room, the police ordered him to lie on the floor and severely beat his soles for ten minutes. After that, they put Sathkumara's hands behind his back and hung him from a beam on the ceiling by a nylon rope. Police officer Pushpakumara and another police officer then swung him for 45 minutes. This type of torture, which has been commonly used by the Sri Lankan police, gives extreme pain to the shoulders and arms of the victim. In the case of Chamila Bandara, who was severely tortured in the same manner at the Ankumbura police station, the doctor reported that he had lost the use of his left arm permanently. (Fortunately, his condition is getting better after receiving medical treatment). After he was removed from the beam, the police officers ordered Sathkumara to jump up and down and run outside. Because the police had severely beat his soles, this caused him great heavy pain.

After that, a policewoman took the victim's money and bought some medicine for him. Sathkumara can identify this policewoman. Until he was released at 6:45 pm, the police did not provide any food to the victim. When the police released him, they worried that any medical records could be used against them and warned Sathkumara not to admit himself to any hospital.

After he was released, Sathkumara's brother took him to the Kuliyapitiya Hospital and he was hospitalized. On 4 November 2003, Sathkumara was discharged from the hospital. While he was in the hospital, the police posting at the hospital took a statement from Sathkumara about the incident and he told them the police beat and tortured him at the Kuliyapitiya Police Station. The Judicial Medical Officer (JMO) also examined him and took a report of the assault. His brother had made a complaint to the District Inspector General (DIG) of the Police of Kurunegala. The DIG asked him to report the case to the Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), and promised to take action within 10 days. But the police have not yet taken any serious action to investigate this case.

On 6 November 2003, the UN Human Rights Committee in their concluding observations made the following recommendations (among several other recommendations):

'The State party should adopt legislative and other measures to prevent such violations, in keeping with articles 2, 7 and 9 of the Covenant, and ensure effective enforcement of the legislation. It should ensure in particular that allegations of crimes committed by state security forces, especially allegations of torture, abduction and illegal confinement, are investigated promptly and effectively with a view to prosecuting perpetrators. The National Police Commission complaints procedure should be implemented as soon as possible. The authorities should diligently enquire into all cases of suspected intimidation of witnesses and establish a witness protection program in order to put an end to the climate of fear that plagues the investigation and prosecution of such cases The capacity of the National Human Rights Commission to investigate and prosecute alleged human rights violations should be strengthened.'

SUGGESTED ACTION:
Send a letter, fax or email to the local authorities and express your concern of this serious case.

1. Hon. Mr. Ranil Wickremasinghe
Prime Minister
Cambridge Place, Colombo 7
SRI LANKA
Fax: +94 11 2 682905 / 575454
E-mail: secpm@sltnet.lk or bradmanw@slt.lk

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 (need to ask to change to fax mode) / 691 926
Fax HOME: +94 11 2 674148

4. Dr. Radhika Coomaraswamy
Director
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

Sample letter:

Dear

Re: Arbitrary arrest and torture of a man by the police officers at the Kuliyapitiya Police Station

Name of the victim: Bamunuarachchi Pathiranalage Sathkumara
Alleged perpetrators: Mr. Pushpakumara and other police officers attached to the Kuliyaptiya Police Station
Date of illegal arrest and torture: 1 November 2003

I am writing to bring to your urgent attention the brutal torture of Bamunuarachchi Pathiranalage Sathkumara.

According to the information I have received, Sathkumara was arbitrarily arrested and brutally tortured by police officers from the Kuliyapitiya Police Station. The police had severely beat his soles for ten minutes. After that, they put Sathkumara's hands behind his back and hung him from a beam on the ceiling by a nylon rope. Then, police officer Pushpakumara and another police officer had swung him for 45 minutes.

This case is only one more addition to a cruel practice that is being allowed to go on in police stations. I urge you to investigate, arrest, and prosecute the responsible offenders. The perpetrators should be suspended from their service in order to protect the victim and his family. I also urge you to enforce discipline for the police so that they desist from torture. I further urge the Sri Lankan government to give compensation to the victim.

Lastly, I request the Sri Lankan government to respect the following recommendation made by the UN Human Rights Committee on 6 November 2003 (among several other recommendations):

'The State party should adopt legislative and other measures to prevent such violations, in keeping with articles 2, 7 and 9 of the Covenant, and ensure effective enforcement of the legislation. It should ensure in particular that allegations of crimes committed by state security forces, especially allegations of torture, abduction and illegal confinement, are investigated promptly and effectively with a view to prosecuting perpetrators. The National Police Commission complaints procedure should be implemented as soon as possible. The authorities should diligently enquire into all cases of suspected intimidation of witnesses and establish a witness protection program in order to put an end to the climate of fear that plagues the investigation and prosecution of such cases The capacity of the National Human Rights Commission to investigate and prosecute alleged human rights violations should be strengthened.'

Sincerely yours,


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*****

Thank you.

Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)

Document Type :
Urgent Appeal Case
Document ID :
UA-78-2003
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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.