The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) expresses serious concern about the visible loss of interest in torture cases by the Attorney Generals Department. While the government and its officials may have lost interest in the issue of torture, this apathy is not apparent in the people of the country who will begin a series of demonstrations against the denial of justice for Sri Lankas citizens.
In March 2005, the foreign minister, Mr. Lakshman Kadirgamar, stated to the 61st session of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights that the government of Sri Lanka, taking serious note of recent allegations regarding torture while in police custody, has introduced short- and long-term preventive mechanisms to address the issue in line with recommendations of treaty bodies. The government of Sri Lanka condemns torture without any reservation.
However, within government agencies, particularly the police and Attorney Generals Department, an extremely lukewarm attitude has been spreading regarding the proper prosecution of torture cases. One obvious reason is the heavy pressure that is being applied by many police officers who are being charged under the Torture Act who are resisting with threats of go-slows and of sabotaging police work altogether. These officers also have support from some higher-ranking officers, and hence, this support vigorously strengthens the police officers resistance to implementation of the Torture Act. Under such pressure, the Attorney Generals Department is retreating on this issue despite the previous vociferous comments that have been expressed to ensure the implementation of this law and to end impunity.
Everything is thus rapidly returning to the situation of the 1990s when the prosecution of state officers, however cruel their acts might have been, proved impossible. It is a proven rule in Sri Lanka that careless criminal investigations and inefficient prosecutions are the best path through which all culprits can escape, as illustrated by the outcome of the case of Bindunuwewa massacre.
The evident deterioration in interest on the part of the investigating and prosecution departments is evident from the fact that, although hundreds of complaints are being made by people from around the country, the number of successful prosecutions remains at the same level as they were at the end of 2003 when there were only two successful prosecutions under the Torture Act. Since then, pressure has been building to resist implementation of this law. Although there may have been some sincere officers, both in the investigation unit and the prosecution branch, they are now being undermined, and an active policy of discouraging prosecutions has come to the fore. If setting up the Special Investigation Unit (SIU) initially created some energy and enthusiasm among torture victims, who are a large league of people throughout the country, deliberate moves are now under way to silence these victims of torture.
Silencing the victims of torture is not something that affects only the victims themselves. It affects their communities and everyone who watches the police stations continue to be butcher shops where mostly innocent people are slaughtered. This policy silences the entire society.
It was just recently that the AHRC was reminded about the 48 school children who were slaughtered at the Embilipitya military camp while their parents remained paralysed with fear, unable to do anything about the grossly visible injustice that was done to their children. Sri Lanka has also witnessed the outcome of the Bindinawewa massacre where the victims and their families have also received no justice. While the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka broadcasts their zero tolerance of torture outside the country, what the torture victims are, in fact, experiencing is zero justice!
By poor investigations, followed by poor prosecutions, any victim of a crime can be denied justice. Thus, what we are witnessing in Sri Lanka is not the watchdog of the rule of law or guardians of justice but active perpetrators of injustice who allow severe misery to be perpetrated on their people. The AHRC expects that in the days to come there will be many betrayals of the court cases that have been filed due to international and local pressure that was generated against the widespread use of torture in the country. We have reason to believe that some of these cases will be abandoned to satisfy the pressure applied by the police to reinforce their right to do whatever they wish and to hold the civilian population at their mercy. We are compelled to state that the blood and tears of torture victims and their families that is shed in all parts of the country is possible only with the connivance of Sri Lankas criminal investigators and prosecutors. We call upon all Sri Lankan citizens, and particularly those who have any sensitivity toward justice, to revolt and take to the streets against the deliberate policy of betraying justice by investigators and prosecutors. Until such a revolt takes place, there will be no justice in Sri Lanka. At the moment, there is no one to rely upon and no one to trust. Some day, if the people rise to demand justice, they may bring some of these investigators and prosecutors themselves before the forum of public scrutiny.
Violence in Sri Lanka has moved far beyond torture only, however. Extrajudicial killings of so-called criminals are part of the law enforcement climate now, and every day there are reports of such killings. These violent acts are justified as part of the Sri Lankan art of maintaining law and order. No one is allowed to challenge this charade in law enforcement though, and those who do are exposed to severe threats of colossal violence. The roots of this violence are within the investigating and prosecuting branches of the Sri Lankan state. So long as this maladministration of justice continues, violence in Sri Lanka will continue unabated. The only hope that is available to Sri Lanka is for its citizens who are sensitive to justice to rise as a national movement for justice. The country must now seek justice, not through its investigators or prosecutors, but against them. Such is the imperative of history if the country is to see any sort of justice in the years ahead.
As a beginning of a street movement for justice, a group of people from Kalutara will begin a protest rally on July 13, 2005, under the slogan “Kalutara People Deserve Justice.” Beginning with this action, a group of activists will demonstrate in public places daily in the city for several months. They will demand an end to torture, the abuse of power and corruption from all braches of the justice system. Similar demonstrations will also take place soon in other cities.
