The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received the following letter from Dr. K. Manoharan of Trincomalee, Sri Lanka. As we believe that the problems he has raised are both tragic in personal terms and of the greatest importance from the point of view of witness protection in Sri Lanka, we are reproducing it here.
In the past, the AHRC has constantly raised the issue of witness protection and the deadly repercussions human rights victims face in theirs attempts to pursue complaints concerning gross violations of human rights. The case of Gerald Perera, a torture victim who was assassinated a short time before he was to testify in court against the police, highlights this issue, and there are many other cases that we have presented in the past relating to this matter. In November 2005, the United Nations Committee against Torture, in its consideration of the situation in Sri Lanka, made the following recommendation with regard to witness protection:
“In accordance with article 13, the State party should take effective steps to ensure that all persons reporting acts of torture or ill-treatment are protected from intimidation and reprisals in making such a report. The State party should inquire into all reported cases of intimidation of witnesses and set up programmes for witness and victim protection.”
We urge everyone to take appropriate action to assist the author of the letter set out below to find protection.
Dr. K. Manoharan
14 St. Mary’s Street
Trincomalee
26 02 2006
Dear Sir
I am submitting the following facts for your kind information with a view to obtaining your advice and guidance.
My second son Manoharan Ragihar aged 20, a G.C.E_A/1 student, was one of the five students who was murdered on the 2nd January 2006 near the Mahatma Gandi statue between the Dockyard road and the Sea Beach, Trincomalee.
On the 10th of January 2006 there was a ministerial inquiry at the Magistrate court Trincomalee and I gave evidence on behalf of my son.?After the inquiry was over, that night and for several nights after that, there were a number of telephone calls, threatening me and the lives of the other members of my family for having given such evidence.?I have already informed you about this in writing.
Furthermore, following this incident, late at night some people started banging at the door of my house and throwing stones at the roof.?I was scared to open the door to go out and see who was doing this.?But everybody knows.?After the continuing problems, the whole city has become silent and no civilians leave their homes.?But the forces still walk around the city.
I and my wife are Medical Practitioners by Profession.?But after my son’s death we temporarily closed our Medical clinic.?During the day strangers, coming by motorbikes, requested for treatment from me.?But when my wife offers her services the strangers say they want to meet me personally, refuse her offer of treatment and leave.?They do not leave their names and always wearing helmets to hide their faces.
After these fearful incidents my family members go to stay in different places at night.
After the death of my son a person helped in the purchase of household goods on one or two occasions.?The forces asked him as to whom he purchased the goods for when his home was elsewhere.?He told them he was helping me and they told him not to go to my house.?My friends, regularly coming to meet my family to give moral support were also told them not to go to my house.
I often go to Magistrate’s courts, after the inquiry till the case is taken up and I sit along with the parents of the other four victims.?In my absence, the Police has been commenting that, we are ‘kottiyas’ (meaning Tigers) and speak in virulent language.?All of these incidents create a moral fear in our minds.
I will bring to your notice, an incident to illustrate my fears:?The Trincomalee reporter to the ‘SUDAR-OLI’ Tamil Newspaper had taken photos of the five students murdered and has given a vivid report of this incident.?This appeared on the front page of the paper.?This report highlighted the atrocities perpetrated on the Tamils by the forces, to the outside world.?This reporter was shot dead on the 24th of this month at 6:30 am while going for work. The normal version of the authorities is that an unknown person has killed the victim. Normally the murders perpetrated by the armed forces go unnoticed, and are classified as being murders of unknown people and therefore investigations cannot be done.?In this case of murder of these five students there is clear evidence to show that it was perpetrated by the armed forces.
Now I don’t run the Medical Clinic fearing murder at any time for me or my wife or my other two sons.?My two sons are unable to attend school, because the forces ask them whether they are the brothers of the ‘late kottiya’.?As the newspaper had published the photos of my late son along with my own and my other sons, it is also risky for us to settle in any other part of the island.
Sir, I think you can understand the risk to life I and my family are facing.?We cannot get over the deepest sorrow of missing my loving son Ragihar and we really do not want another death in our family.?Can you help me in any way to at least safeguard the other members of my family?
