Sri Lanka
07.09.04
Urgent Interventions
Sri Lanka: arrest and torture of Mr. Wijesekara Pathiranage Lionel Weerasinghe
Case LKA 070904
Arrest / Torture / Impunity
The International Secretariat of OMCT requests your URGENT intervention in the following situation in Sri Lanka.
Brief Description of the Situation
The International Secretariat of OMCT has been informed by the Asian Human Rights Commission, a member of the OMCT network, of the arrest and torture of 33 year-old Mr. Wijesekara Pathiranage Lionel Weerasinghe by the Yatawatta police.
According to the information received, on 16 July 2004 at around 11:00 am, Mr. Wijesekara Pathiranage was working in a cinnamon plantation owned by Mr. Kulathunga, when six officers in civilian clothes from the Yatawatta police station arrived in a white van (No. 32-8435). The police officers handcuffed him, put him into the van and took him to his house. They accused him of being in possession of a gun. When Mr. Wijesekara Pathiranage denied these allegations, the police started to beat his back with a wooden pole. They then put him back inside the van and continued to assault him until they reached the Yatawatta Police Station at around 2:45 pm.
During the first two days of his detention, from 16 to 17 July 2004, Mr. Wijesekara Pathiranage was subjected to ill-treatment and acts of torture by officers of the Yatawatta Police Station. He was reportedly beaten with an iron pole on his back side and on the soles of his feet. Moreover, when he continued to insist on his innocence, the police pricked the tips of Mr. Wijesekara Pathiranage’s finger and toes with two needles and tortured him again with a wooden pole for several hours. Furthermore, according to the information received, the Yatawatta police came to the victim's house on 17 July 2004, while he was still in detention, and stole some of his belongings including the sum of Rs. 38,000.
The alleged perpetrators of these acts are: Constable no. 25713 Perera, Constable no. 29250 Lionel, Constable no. 31957 Lionel, Constable no. 16438 Sunil, Officer in Charge (OIC) Bandaranayaka of the Yatawatta Police Station, as well as two other unidentified police officers attached to the Yatawatta Police Station.
Mr. Wijesekara Pathiranage was reportedly produced before the Matale magistrate court on 18 July 2004 and the court remanded him to the Kandy Remand Prison until 2 August 2004. However, as he was unable to pay his bail, he was remanded for another 14 days. He was finally released on bail on 18 August 2004 but was ordered to report to the Matale Police Station every last Sunday of each month. After the victim was released, he made a complaint to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and the National Police Commission (NPC) about his case, but according to the information received, no action has yet been taken by these institutions to investigate this matter.
The International Secretariat of OMCT is gravely concerned by this recent case of torture and by the fact that Mr. Wijesekara Pathiranage’s complaint has not been followed up on. This is in blatant violation of article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to which Sri Lanka is a state party. OMCT therefore urges the authorities to take immediate steps to halt this kind of police brutality, and calls on them to launch a prompt, thorough and impartial investigation into the circumstances of this event in order to find those responsible for any violations of human rights and to bring them to justice.
Action Requested
Please write to the authorities in Sri Lanka urging them to:
i. take all necessary measures to ensure the physical and psychological integrity of Mr. Wijesekara Pathiranage Lionel Weerasinghe;
ii. order a thorough and impartial investigation into the circumstances of these events in order to bring those responsible to trial and apply the penal and/or administrative sanctions as provided by law;
iii. guarantee that Mr. Wijesekara Pathiranage Lionel Weerasinghe be provided with adequate reparation;
iv. guarantee the respect of human rights and the fundamental freedoms throughout the country in accordance with national laws and international human rights standards.
Addresses :
Geneva, 07 September 2004
Kindly inform us of any action undertaken quoting the code of this appeal in your reply.
Arrest / Torture / Impunity
The International Secretariat of OMCT requests your URGENT intervention in the following situation in Sri Lanka.
Brief Description of the Situation
The International Secretariat of OMCT has been informed by the Asian Human Rights Commission, a member of the OMCT network, of the arrest and torture of 33 year-old Mr. Wijesekara Pathiranage Lionel Weerasinghe by the Yatawatta police.
According to the information received, on 16 July 2004 at around 11:00 am, Mr. Wijesekara Pathiranage was working in a cinnamon plantation owned by Mr. Kulathunga, when six officers in civilian clothes from the Yatawatta police station arrived in a white van (No. 32-8435). The police officers handcuffed him, put him into the van and took him to his house. They accused him of being in possession of a gun. When Mr. Wijesekara Pathiranage denied these allegations, the police started to beat his back with a wooden pole. They then put him back inside the van and continued to assault him until they reached the Yatawatta Police Station at around 2:45 pm.
During the first two days of his detention, from 16 to 17 July 2004, Mr. Wijesekara Pathiranage was subjected to ill-treatment and acts of torture by officers of the Yatawatta Police Station. He was reportedly beaten with an iron pole on his back side and on the soles of his feet. Moreover, when he continued to insist on his innocence, the police pricked the tips of Mr. Wijesekara Pathiranage’s finger and toes with two needles and tortured him again with a wooden pole for several hours. Furthermore, according to the information received, the Yatawatta police came to the victim's house on 17 July 2004, while he was still in detention, and stole some of his belongings including the sum of Rs. 38,000.
The alleged perpetrators of these acts are: Constable no. 25713 Perera, Constable no. 29250 Lionel, Constable no. 31957 Lionel, Constable no. 16438 Sunil, Officer in Charge (OIC) Bandaranayaka of the Yatawatta Police Station, as well as two other unidentified police officers attached to the Yatawatta Police Station.
Mr. Wijesekara Pathiranage was reportedly produced before the Matale magistrate court on 18 July 2004 and the court remanded him to the Kandy Remand Prison until 2 August 2004. However, as he was unable to pay his bail, he was remanded for another 14 days. He was finally released on bail on 18 August 2004 but was ordered to report to the Matale Police Station every last Sunday of each month. After the victim was released, he made a complaint to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and the National Police Commission (NPC) about his case, but according to the information received, no action has yet been taken by these institutions to investigate this matter.
The International Secretariat of OMCT is gravely concerned by this recent case of torture and by the fact that Mr. Wijesekara Pathiranage’s complaint has not been followed up on. This is in blatant violation of article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to which Sri Lanka is a state party. OMCT therefore urges the authorities to take immediate steps to halt this kind of police brutality, and calls on them to launch a prompt, thorough and impartial investigation into the circumstances of this event in order to find those responsible for any violations of human rights and to bring them to justice.
Action Requested
Please write to the authorities in Sri Lanka urging them to:
i. take all necessary measures to ensure the physical and psychological integrity of Mr. Wijesekara Pathiranage Lionel Weerasinghe;
ii. order a thorough and impartial investigation into the circumstances of these events in order to bring those responsible to trial and apply the penal and/or administrative sanctions as provided by law;
iii. guarantee that Mr. Wijesekara Pathiranage Lionel Weerasinghe be provided with adequate reparation;
iv. guarantee the respect of human rights and the fundamental freedoms throughout the country in accordance with national laws and international human rights standards.
Addresses :
- Hon. Mr. Mahindra Rajapakse, Prime Minister, Cambridge Place, Colombo 7, SRI LANKA, Fax: +94 11 2 682905 / 575454, E-mail: secpm@sltnet.lk or bradmanw@slt.lk
- 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
- 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, E-mail: polcom@sltnet.lk
- Mr. T. I. de Silva, Inspector General of Police (IGP), New Secretariat, Colombo 1, SRI LANKA, Fax: +94 11 2 381394/ 446174
- 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
- Ambassador Prasad Kariyawasam, Permanent Mission of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka to the United Nations in Geneva, Rue de Moillebeau 56, Case postale 436, 1211 Genève 19, Tel. : +41 22 / 919 12 50, Fax : +41 22 / 734 90 84, E-mail : mission.srilanka@ties.itu.int
- Please also write to the embassies of Sri Lanka in your respective country.
Geneva, 07 September 2004
Kindly inform us of any action undertaken quoting the code of this appeal in your reply.