SRI LANKA: Victor Ivan: A man who has left a permanent imprint by way of his critique of the judicial system in Sri Lanka

Mr Victor Ivan is not with us anymore. However, in many areas of Sri Lanka’s political, social and cultural life, his imprint will remain for a very long time to come.

Among the various impacts that he had, the greatest is the daring and farsighted critique of the judicial system of Sri Lanka.

This morning, I first heard of his passing away through a telephone call from a mutual friend presently living in Australia. Immediately following this, I got another call from Canada and this time it was from Michael Anthony Fernando (Tony) and it was very befitting as Victor Ivan was one of the most prominent critics against the unjust and illegal imprisonment of Tony Fernando by the then-Chief Justice Sarath Nanda Silva. He was given a year of rigorous imprisonment for alleged contempt of court, simply for objecting to the Chief Justice hearing his case and making a request for a hearing before a different judge.

Afew lawyers filed a petition before the United Nations Human Rights Committee against this judgment and the Committee later held that the Supreme Court had violated Tony’s human rights. 

This case was just one of the cases taken up by Mr Victor Ivan involving serious violations of the independence of the judiciary that were taking place during the period from the late 70s into recent times. 

The virtual war between Victor Ivan and Sarath Nanda Silva remain as almost a legend among those who were aware of the intense and prolonged battles that he put up as the editor of Ravaya, which, again, was one of the great contributions to the development of independent journalism in Sri Lanka.

Victor Ivan’s exposure of some of the judicial misconduct has had a profound impact. He exposed one case where a magistrate raped a prisoner’s wife in the magistrates chambers, and a film was made by a prominent director about this crime. It shocked the nation.

He documented all these cases and reports, and published them by way of books that became part of the popular reading about these unfortunate times.

Beginning his political career as a young man who was part of the original group of JVPers, he injured one of his hands in a failed attempt to make a Molotov cocktail. He spent several years as a political prisoner. He often described this period in prison as a sort of university where the young activists talked among themselves critically about the 1971 uprising.

Perhaps it was these experiences that led him to make a career of journalism. Without a doubt, Mr Ivan will be remembered as one of the topmost journalists, introducing investigative journalism into Sri Lanka and, in particular, into the Sinhala language.

From his press rose many people who have played prominent roles in the development of critical journalism in Sri Lanka.

Mr Ivan was also one of the people who predicted the rapidly collapsing situation of the Sri Lankan economy and warned of the kind of collapse that has unfortunately become a reality by way of the economic crisis that is being experienced in Sri Lanka today.

He placed enormous value on the collection of data on political and social affairs as a future reference about the manner in which history was unfolding in Sri Lanka. 

He played a leading role in at least three elections, one of which elected Chandrika Bandaranayake as president at a time when a major political issue was enforced disappearances. Ravaya, his paper, played the role of exposing massive levels of disappearances that had taken place.  Later, the issue of the war again brought in diverse and complex problems in the ethnic relationships, and in these too, he and his colleagues had a profound influence in developing a conversation towards solving this problem. 

These are merely a few short notes on am extraordinary life. Naturally, many reflections will be forthcoming about the role played by Mr Victor Ivan in one of the most dismal times experienced in Sri Lankan history.

Document Type : Statement
Document ID : AHRC-STM-001-2025
Countries : Sri Lanka,
Issues : Human rights defenders,