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

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

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