Illegal Arrest – Illegal Detention – Torture
Falsification of Charges by the Moratuwa Police
[Introduction]
These documents present the case of Sarath Kumar Naidos. The basic chronology is as follows:
On July 5, 2008 Sarath was arrested by one police officer in uniform and another in civilian dress; he was assaulted there and then and was put on the floor of a three-wheeler while the two officers sat on the seat and placed their feet on him. He was taken to the Moratuwa Police Station.
He was kept in the Moratuwa Police Station from noon of the 5th to the morning of the July 1.
He was assaulted every day when a group of policemen lead by an officer named, Damith, demanded gold items allegedly stolen by him. He was visited daily by his wife and his sister. His mother made several visits during this period together with his sister’s mother in law. The sister’s husband and two of his friends also visited Sarath at the police station.
He complained daily to all of them about the assaults and all of them saw his physical condition.
Oral complaints and telephone complaints were made to the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka and a written complaint was made by his mother on July 11 about illegal arrest, detention and torture.
Written complaints was also sent to the Inspector General of Police, the DIG of the area and the National Police Commission by fax.
Two lawyers visited him several times between July 5 and the 13th.
The SP in charge of the Moratuwa Police Station was met by family members on July 9 and he visited the Moratuwa Police Station with them. The SP talked to the police officers and saw Sarath in the cell and after talking to officers said that he had been brought regarding a theft.
On July 12 the family with some human rights representatives met a former DIG who is now a practicing lawyer. He sent a lawyer’s notice by fax to high ranking police officers about this whole incident.
On July 13 Sarath was produced in court and the police filed two cases. One regarding a theft and the other for being in possession of 2,300 milligrams of heroin at 11:30 p.m. on July 12.
The Magistrate gave bail for the case where the charge was theft but he had no power to give bail on the case on the drug charges.
Complaints have been made to all the authorities of the police and also to the Human Rights Commission and the National Police Commission to make special intervention regarding the fabricated charges on the basis of the physical impossibility of being in possession of heroin at midnight of July 12, 2008.
Click here to download this publication in PDF format.
