SRI LANKA: Disappearance of fifteen innocent civilians in Trincomalee and Colombo

Dear friends

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from a reliable source (name withheld for security reasons), regarding the cases of abductions of 15 innocent civilians in Trincomalee and Colombo since September 2006 to February 2007. All of the victims are still missing and there have not been taken any effective investigation into these disappearances by police authorities to date.

CASE DETAILS:

Case 1:
On the morning of 13 February 2007, eight workers: -Mr. Krishnamoorthy Venuraj (23: Single); Mr. Rajathurai Chandramuneeswaran (24: Married with one child); Mr. Muthulingam Kamalraj (23: Married with infant child); Mr. Krishnapillai Thiyagaraja (27: Married with two young children); Mr. Gnanasabapathy Rajanikanthan (24: Single); Mr. Arjunathas Kamalraj; Mr. Anthony Raj Charles; Mr. Muthulingam Pradeepan- went to work as usual.

At around 9:00am, two unidentified gunmen wearing sarongs and black T-shirts held the men at gunpoint. They were soon joined by two more masked gunmen, who spoke amongst themselves in Sinhala, but to the workers in Tamil. They ordered the workmen to remove their T-shirts and then bound their hands behind their backs, and made them follow them in the direction of the nearby Monkey Bridge Army Camp.

While on their way to the Camp, the workmen were ambushed by other similarly dressed gunmen who then dragged them into the forest. The victims were blindfolded, and one by one, were subjected to severe beatings and intense questioning by their abductors, particularly regarding whether they were supporters of the Vanni LTTE faction. They then told the detainees that they would release them, but only on the basis that they come to the Karuna outfit’s office in five days time. The detainees promised that they would.

At around 12:00am, their abductors gave a 16 year-old boy who had also been detained along with them, strict orders to untie the other workmen in one hour, but threatened that if he removed his blindfold at any time, he would be shot. They then left the men in the forest. At 1:00 pm, the 16 year-old boy untied the workmen as he had been instructed. They attempted to search for Mr. Venuraj, Mr. Chandramuneeswaran, Mr. Kamalraj, Mr. Thiyagaraja, Mr. Rajanikanthan, and Mr. Arjunathas Kamalraj who were nowhere to be seen, but could not find them, and so returned home to their families. The other men are still missing.

Case 2:
At around 10:00 pm on 21 September 2006, unidentified persons came to the home of Mr. Premasiri Santhakumar, 45 year-old, fisherman, claiming to be friends of Mr. Santhakumar. When his wife, Ms. Ithayarani, asked her husband, he told her that he indeed knew the persons and would take them to the home of a friend, and return in the next morning.

However Mr. Santhakumar did not returned by the next morning. His wife and some of his fishermen friends went in search of him, and eventually went to the Kalpity Police Station to file a Missing Persons Report. The attending Police Officer told Ms. Ithayarani not to worry, as her husband was with friends, and would surely return soon.

Two days later, and still no sign of her husband, Ms. Ithayarani returned to the Kalpity Police Station and filed a Missing Persons Report again. She was later told by her neighbours that on the night of the incident, there were armed gunmen waiting outside their home. Ms. Ithayarani now fears and worries that her husband lied to her about knowing the men because he wanted to protect her from the truth. It has been six months since Mr. Santhakumar’s abduction; in that time, Ms. Ithayarani has returned to their native home in Trincomalee with their two children, and still awaits word of her husband.

Case 3:
On the morning of 4 February 2007, Mr. Jeyachandran Tharshan and Mr. Theivendram Jeyagnesh went to work as usual and returned home at about 6:00 pm. Upon returning home, Mr. Jeyagnesh went to the home of his friend and co-worker, Mr. Tharshan, who lived about six houses away from his own. When he returned home, he told his wife that he had seen a white van parked outside at the top of their lane. As he was saying this, about six or seven persons dressed in black kicked down their front door, and held Mr. Jeyagnesh and his friend, Mr. Tharshan at gunpoint. They told Mr. Jeyagnesh and his family in Sinhala to keep quiet, and then started severely beating Mr. Jeyagnesh and Mr. Tharshan.

Mr. Jeyagnesh’s wife, Ms. Kaladevi who was heavily pregnant at the time of this incident, threw herself at the feet of the attackers and pleaded with them not to assault her husband. They roughly pushed her aside, and then assaulted her eldest 10 year-old son when he tried to defend his father. Both men were then dragged towards the van, and roughly pushed into it and then driven away.

Ms. Kaladevi immediately went with Mr. Tharshan’s Aunt, Ms. Sinnathurai to the nearby Kantale Police Station where they reported the incident and filed a Missing Person’s Report. The attending Police Officer told them to come back to the station in the morning, after a formal investigative inquiry has been conducted, for news of the missing men. Both women returned to the Kantale Police Station the next morning, and several more times thereafter, but were told nothing further of the men’s whereabouts.

They also visited the nearby Sophia Army Base Camp, but were told that no men by those names and descriptions had ever been detained there. Then, on 20 February 2007, both women were informed that the victims had been spotted in the Verugal Factory Camp. They immediately informed the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), who then sent a representative to their homes for further information. The ICRC, as well as Ms. Sinnathurai and Ms. Kaladevi, have enquired about Mr. Tharshan and Mr. Jeyagnesh several times to the Verugal Factory Camp personnel, however they denied that they ever detained the missing peoples. Mr. Tharshan and Mr. Jeyagnesh are still missing.

Case 4: 
On the evening of 14 February 2007, at around 6pm, four unidentified men dressed in civilian clothes came to the boarding house where Mr. Eldrin Matthew was boarded, and told him that he was urgently needed for questioning. The four men then took Mr. Matthew and boarded a van which was parked outside.

Upon boarding the van, they placed a sign-board reading “Police” just behind the front windscreen and then drove away. Mr. Matthew’s landlord, seeing this, immediately called Mr. Matthew’s wife, Ms. Vasuki, who resides with their child in Trincomalee. On hearing the news of her husband’s abduction, Ms. Vasuki immediately boarded a night-bus to Colombo, and went to the Kotahena Police Station where she filed a Missing Persons Report. She also informed the National Human Rights Commission in Colombo of the incident (Ref. No: HRC1047/07) and the ICRC, but has received no substantial information as to her husband’s whereabouts.

Case 5: 
On the morning of 27 February 2007, Mr. Sandanam Chandran went to work as usual. He had been employed by the Government for the construction of the Mihindupura Building in Trincomalee. At around 5:00pm the same day, he had allegedly told his fellow workmen that he was going to run a few errands in town, and had borrowed a co-worker’s motorcycle. A few hours later, the owner of the motorcycle had apparently called Mr. Chandran’s mobile, but it was answered by an unidentified person and not Mr. Chandran, who then immediately cut off.

After several more failed attempts to contact Mr. Chandran on the same mobile number, his friend grew concerned and immediately contacted Mr. Chandran’s wife, Ms. Kamaleswary. Ms. Kameleswary also tried to contact her husband, but received no answer. She then went to a few places where her husband was known to frequent, but there was no sign of him, and neither had anyone else seen him.

Growing more worried by the hour, Ms. Kamaleswary filed a Missing Persons Report at the Uppuveli Police Station. She also informed the ICRC and the National Human Rights Commission’s branch Offices in Trincomalee as well as the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) of her husband’s disappearance. All said parties promised Ms. Kameleswary that they would conduct immediate investigations into Mr. Chandran’s disappearance. However to date, Ms. Kameleswary and her family have heard nothing further about her husband and/or his whereabouts. In her testimony, Ms. Kameleswary strongly suspects the Karuna faction in Trincomalee of abducting her husband, despite the abduction have taken place in a government-controlled area.

Case 6: 
On 18 September 2006, Mr. Thuraiappa Kalaichelvan left his home in the morning to pick up his three-wheeler from the owner, which he then runs on auto-hire. Later that day, at around 4:00 pm, he returned to the owner’s house to settle the bill for the hire-service of the three-wheeler. He then went in the same three-wheeler to pick up his 3 year-old daughter from home. That was the last sighting of him.

By 7:00 pm when he still hadn’t returned home, Mr. Kalaichelvan’s wife, Ms. Sumathy, tried calling his mobile several times, but got no answer. She then started calling his friends and co-workers, but none of them had seen him since morning. She then called the owner of the three-wheeler hired out to Mr. Kalaichelvan, who told her that she had last seen Mr. Kalaichelvan driving past an Army checkpoint near the Cultural Hall on Inner Harbour Road from her home window. Fearing for her husband’s safety, Ms. Sumathy went to the nearest Police Station at around 9:30pm and filed a Missing Person’s Report. The next day, Ms. Sumathy made a formal statement about her husband’s disappearance to the ICRC, the Human Rights Commission and the SLMM.

Despite assurances from all said parties of an immediate investigation, there has been no further word of her husband’s whereabouts. Eight months pregnant at the time of her husband’s abduction, Ms. Sumathy delivered their baby on 6 November 2006. Mr. Kalaichelvan is still missing.

Case 7:
Due to employment strife in Trincomalee, Mr. Ramakrishnan Rajkumar decided to go abroad in search of employment. He contacted a local Foreign Employment Agency, and made all the necessary arrangements to enable his travel. He, his wife and infant child left Trincomalee for Colombo on 26 June 2006, and stayed at the A.K.B. Lodge in Colombo 14. Mr. Rajkumar’s Agent told them that certain visa and ticket matters had been delayed, and that Mr. Rajkumar would have to wait a few more days to travel, but gave him strict instructions not to return to Trincomalee.

According to Mr. Rajkumar’s wife, Ms. Yogeswary, during the period of their stay at the lodge, police authorities allegedly came and enquired about their purpose of stay several times. Two months went by, and Mr. Rajkumar was still no nearer to leaving the country despite many promises by his Agent.

On 23 August 2006 at around 12:20 am, Police Officers entered the lodge and demanded that all lodge-guest present them their National Identity Cards (NIC’s). Unable to speak Sinhala, a Muslim gentleman guest translated for Mr. Rajkumar and his family. Upon inspecting Mr. Rajkumar’s NIC which listed his hometown as Jaffna, the Officers demanded that he come with them. When Ms. Yogeswary asked the Police Officer where her husband was being taken, he responded by pointing a gun at her head and telling her to be quiet. In Ms. Yogeswary’s statement, she states that she saw two vans parked outside- a white van and a blue van- and that she saw her husband and two other lodge guests being pushed into the white van, while the Police Officers got into the blue van and sped off. Distraught, Ms. Yogeswary went to several Police stations, including the Kotahena Police Station, but they denied ever having detained her husband and refused to record her formal statement. Mr. Rajkumar is still missing.

SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please write to the relevant authorities listed below, expressing your grave concern for the desperate plight in the cases of disappearance mentioned above. We ask that you support us in our campaign to ensure that justice be served to the victims of abductions and extra-judicial killings in Sri Lanka, past, present and future.

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