SRI LANKA: Innocent villagers illegally arrested, tortured and charged with fabricated charges

Dear friends, 

According to the information that the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) received around 150 men from Navanthurai, a village in the Jaffna District in Northern Province, were illegally arrested and detained in an operation conducted by the Sri Lanka Army at around 1.15 am on 23 August 2011. The villagers were severely beaten by the army and dragged to the main road near the Navanthurai Army Detachment located around 300 meters from the village. All the arrestees were loaded onto buses and handed over to the Jaffna Headquarters Police Station at around 4 am. They were brought to the Jaffna Magistrate’s Court at 10 am but not produced before the Magistrate before 1 pm the same day. 

Despite their injuries, the men were held without treatment for over 8 hours. 20 of the most seriously injured were admitted to the Jaffna Teaching Hospital after 10 am, following the intervention of the Magistrate. The remainder was denied treatment until around 7.30 pm when all detainees were admitted for treatment to the Jaffna Teaching Hospital. Around 100 people have been admitted for treatment to the Jaffna Hospital on 23 August .This case is yet another illustration of the exceptional collapse of the rule of law in the country. 

CASE NARRATIVE: 

According to the information that the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) received at around 8 pm on 22 August 2011, villagers spotted five ‘grease yakas’ (suspicious people engaged in criminal activities in the recent past which created almost superstition fear among the people in several parts of the country) in the Navanthurai area. Three men were seen inside the Navanthurai church and two others sitting in the trees. When the villagers surrounded and tried to capture the men, they ran into the Navanthurai Army Detachment. 

The villagers gathered at the entrance to the Army camp and demanded that the Army produce the grease devils that had run into the camp. The Army refused. A short while later, the villagers saw the grease yakas being driven out of the camp in an army jeep. They had changed into military uniform and one man even brandished a knife at the villagers from the safety of the jeep. Agitated by the protection given by the military to the grease yakas the villagers threw stones at the jeep. Shots were then fired by the Army and the crowd was dispersed by around 9.30 pm. 

The same night at around 1.15 am on the 23 August, the army entered Navanthurai in the district of Jaffna and arrested and detained between 100 – 120 young men from the village. According to eye witnesses, around 12 Army officers entered each house in the village and dragged out men who were sleeping with their families and children. The men were brutally and indiscriminately beaten with rifle butts and iron rods and dragged along the road towards the Army detachment located around 300 meters from the village. Women and children were also beaten in the attack. 

When the relatives visited the village that evening they saw bullet holes in the walls of houses where shots had been fired. Doors and windows had been broken in several houses and villagers said that the army had destroyed furniture and goods inside each house. Many said that valuables including jewelry, phones and money had been taken by the military during the operation. 

They further state that they have seen the bloodied shirt and banyan vest of a boy who is said to have been beaten inside his home and taken away. They saw blood stains on the road near houses where people were attacked. Further they stated that they also saw a jeep belonging to a villager that had three bullet holes and it appeared that shots had been fired from inside the vehicle. The owner of the jeep who is disabled was also badly beaten. 

One villager who is a local businessman said that the army personnel to his house four times that night and each time they severely beat the men who were inside the house. His 16 year old son was beaten and dragged into the street. The men and young boys of school going age were beaten inside their houses and again on the street while being dragged up to the Army Camp. A group of people who had gathered in the village for a funeral vigil, were also beaten and detained. 

According to information available for us one man who was carrying a young child was pulled out of his house by the Army. The child he was carrying was flung to aside and the man beaten and dragged away.

The villagers were unable to tell the exact number of officers who entered the village but stated that it was well over a 100 men. There are still conflicting estimates as to the exact number of persons detained in the operation. The arrestees were believed to have been held near the Army Camp until around 4 am when they were taken away in buses and handed over to the Jaffna Headquarters Police Station. 

Later the same day around 100 men were produced before the Magistrate of Jaffna by the police officers attached to the Jaffna Headquarters Police Station. The men were brought to court in their injured state at around 10 am. They were not given access to their relatives until the Magistrate intervened and ordered the police to allow one family member to visit the detainees. Several catholic priests, nuns and local civil society activists were also present at the court. According to those present, the men had visible injuries and showed signs of having been severely beaten. 

The Magistrate ordered 18 of the more seriously injured to be admitted to hospital and for the medical certificates to be submitted to the court. The men were produced before the Magistrate in batches after lunch at around 1 pm. Later the relatives were informed that the rest of the detainees were admitted to hospital only at around 7.30 pm based on the order of the Magistrate. 

Lawyers who appear for the victims submitted the fact that the villagers had chased the grease yakas from their village and that they had entered the Army camp. Further they explained that the innocent villagers had been arrested and detained without proper reason. Further, lawyers submitted the fact that all the victims arrested had been mercilessly assaulted and the next of kin were not allowed to visit them. 

The Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Jaffna appeared in person before the Magistrate and made a submission to court, accusing the villagers of unlawful gathering. But he did not mention about the complaints of the victims and the relatives regarding the severe tortured perpetrated upon them by the Army officers. 

In the evening on 23 August, the Magistrate of Jaffna ordered 95 persons who were arrested by the police in Navanthurai, to be remanded until 26 August. The Magistrate also ordered all detainees to be admitted to hospital for treatment and for the medical certificates to be submitted in court. 

To-date none of the state authorities have initiated an inquiry into the incident of the violation of the victim’s fundamental rights. 

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: 

The Asian Human Rights Commission has reported innumerable cases of torturing innocent by the Sri Lankan police which are illegal under international and local law which have taken place at different Police Station in the country over the past few years. 

The State of Sri Lanka sign and ratified the CAT on 3 January 1994. Following state obligations Sri Lanka adopted Act number 22 of 1994 the law adopted by the Sri Lankan parliament making torture a crime that can be punishable for minimum seven years and not less than ten years on being proven guilty. The Attorney General of Sri Lanka is suppose to file indictments in the case where credible evidence were found on torturing people by state officers. 

SUGGESTED ACTION:

Please send a letter to the authorities listed below expressing your concern about this case and requesting an immediate investigation into the allegations of illegal arrest, illegal detention, torturing by the police perpetrators, and the prosecution of those proven to be responsible under the criminal law of the country for misusing powers of a state. The officers involved must also be subjected to internal investigations for the breach of the department orders as issued by the police department. Further, please also request the NPC and the IGP to have a special investigation into the malpractices of the police officers for abusing the state officers’ powers. 

Please note that the AHRC has also written a separate letter to the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment on this regard. 

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