Dear friends,
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that a man named Bellanavithanage Sanath Yasaratne was allegedly assaulted and shot by the police from the the Baduraliya Police Station on 22 February 2004. The victim was died while being transferred to the general hospital in Colombo from the Wattaewa Hospital on that day. According to the Judicial Medical Officer (JMO), who conducted a postmortem inquiry, death of the victim was due to gun shot injuries.
In fact, the victim’s death stared from a very minor complaint about a quarrel between some family members happened at the house of the victim’s sister. However, it is reported that the police officers severely assaulted the victim with a baton in the first place during the simple inquiry, which caused the victim to attempt to run away. The witness of the incident said that the other officer then fired at the victim without any hesitation.
The victim’s family wants an inquiry into this incident however they fear that the perpetrators will attempt to hush up the inquiry by making up a false story about the victim’s death. Your urgent action is required to request the local authorities to correct this matter immediately.
Urgent Appeals Desk
Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)
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DETAILED INFORMATION:
Name of the Victim: Bellanavithanage Sanath Yasaratne, 22, of Gorakagahagodella, Bellana, Agalawatte
Alleged perpetrators: A police constable Suriyyarachi, Sub Inspector (S.I.) Dammika and two other officers attached to the Baduraliya Police Station
Date of incident: 22 February 2004
Case details:
On 22 February 2004, four police officers led by Sub Inspector (S.I.) Dammika, went to investigate a complaint of a morning incident which was about a quarrel between some family members at the house of Ayasha Damayanthi (a sister of the victim). They arrived at the house of Ayasha Damayanthi but no one was in the house at the moment. When they were returning to the police station, the police officers saw Bellanavithanage Sanath Yasaratne (the victim) seating in a boutique. As soon as they recognized him as a brother of Ayasha Damayanthi, a police constable (P.C.) Suriyyarachi approached the victim to inquiry the complaint.
While investigating him, P.C. Suriyyarachi allegedly stated to beat the victim severely with a baton that he was carrying in the first place. To escape from the assault, the victim tried to run away. Then the other officer, who had a gun, fired two shots at the victim and he victim fell down on the street. According to the eyewitnesses, the police abandoned the victim and did nothing to help him. Later, the victim’s brother and several people took the victim to the Wattaewa Hospital. However, the victim has died on the way to the general hospital in Colombo from the Wattaewa Hospital for the operation.
A postmortem inquiry has been conducted by the Judicial Medical Officer (JMO) of the Nagoda Hospital and the officer confirmed that death of the victim was due to gun shot injuries. Magisterial inquiry has not yet been held. There are many eyewitnesses of the incident including family members of the victim. The victim’s family wants an inquiry into the matter however they fear that the perpetrators will attempt to hush up the inquiry and make up a false story about the victim’s death.
In fact, the victim’s death stared from a very minor incident. However, the police officers severely assaulted the victim with a baton during the simple investigation, which caused the victim to run away. Then the other officer shot the victim to death without any hesitation. In many urgent appeals previously issued by the AHRC, we have reported of what nightmare is the “investigations” by police in Sri Lanka. Why was the victim beaten up in the first place? Why did a police officer carry a gun going for a simple inquiry? Why did the police officers easily violate rules of use of firearms in Sri Lanka? What training did these officers receive for a proper investigation? These are relevant questions of the incident but sadly to day no authority in Sri Lanka cares to reply to these questions. Fear is that now, the police note of the incident will be tempered and some story will be cooked up and the witnesses will be intimidated by the perpetrators as usual.
SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please send a letter, fax or email to the addresses below and express your concern about this serious case.
1. Hon. Mr. Ranil Wickremasinghe
Prime Minister
Cambridge Place, Colombo 7
SRI LANKA
Fax: +94 11 2 682905 / 575454
E-mail: secpm@sltnet.lk or bradmanw@slt.lk
2. 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
3. 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
4. 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
5. Mr. Shavindra Fernando
Senior State Counsel
Torture Perpetrators Investigation Unit
Attorney General’s Department
Colombo 12
SRI LANKA
Tel/Fax: +94 11 2 327 765
Email: Prsec@visual.lk or savifdo@yahoo.co.uk
6. Mr. Theo C. van Boven
Special Rapporteur on the Question of Torture
OHCHR-UNOG
8-14 Avenue de la Paix
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Fax: +41 22 917 9016
7. Ms. Asma Jahangir
Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions
c/o OHCHR-UNOG
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Tel: 92 42 5763 234
Fax: 41 22 917 9006 / 92 42 5763 236
Email: webadmin.hchr@unog.ch / asmalaw@brain.net.pk
To support this case, please click here: SEND APPEAL LETTER
SAMPLE LETTER
Re: A young man assaulted and shot dead by the police in the course of investigation
Name of the Victim: Bellanavithanage Sanath Yasaratne, 22, of Gorakagahagodella, Bellana, Agalawatte
Alleged perpetrators: A police constable Suriyyarachi, Sub Inspector (S.I.) Dammika and two other officers attached to the Baduraliya Police Station
Date of incident: 22 February 2004
I am shocked by this careless murder allegedly done by the police. That a simple criminal inquiry ended in a death of the victim demonstrates the casual way of how human life has been treated by law enforcement officers in Sri Lanka.
This case is only another example of cruel forms of torture that has been done in most casual manner in the course of ordinary criminal investigations in Sri Lanka. I would like to remind you of two recent torture cases; one case about putting boiling hot water on a genital of a person and another case about forcing a tuberculosis patient to spit into the mouth of the victim. (Reference: UA-07-2004: Torture by pouring boiling water on the victim’s genitals by the officers of the Matale Police Station in Kandy; UA-18-2004: Severely injured torture victim need urgent medical treatment)
These brutal manners of the police shows that something is critically wrong with the situation of the investigation process conducted by the police in Sri Lanka. Therefore, I strongly urge you to order an impartial inquiry into this case and bring the persons responsible for the death of the victim to justice as soon as possible. The alleged perpetrators must be suspended from the service while the investigation is going on. The victim must be compensated. I also urge the government of Sri Lanka to initiate an inquiry into the whole situation of the breakdown of the law enforcement in the country, and take strong action to establish reliable legal, prosecution and investigation system without delay.
Sincerely yours
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Thank you.
Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)
