SRI LANKA: Police in Katugastota torture and frame a man

Dear friends, 

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that a young man is facing fabricated charges in Kandy Magistrate’s Court. The cases against him are patently flawed and he was illegally detained and badly tortured after his arrest. We are told that the lawyer assigned to the victim by police did not raise the issue of his torture or the bogus nature of the charges with the Magistrate. 

CASE DETAILS: (According to a local NGO and relatives of the victim) 

T. Jayantha was arrested by the Katugastota police in July 2007 and accused of stealing video cassettes. After being tortured in the interrogation room Jayantha reports that he fled custody by jumping out of a window, severely injuring his leg in the process. 

Police re-arrested him at his home on the morning of October 15; he was at home wearing a sarong (a traditional cloth wrap). His mother, Sunethra Jayasinghe, was turned away when she tried to visit him at Katugastota that day, but when she was able to see Jayantha a day later he told her that he had been tortured again. He described being stripped naked, tied to a door and kicked by officers wearing boots, as well as being hung, beaten and slapped. His fingers and toes had bled, and Sunethra reports that his lips were split and swollen. 

On the evening of 17 November officers S. Samarakoon, Sub Inspector Hemantha, Jagath and two others from Katugastota station took Jayantha to his home to conduct a search. He could only walk with the aid of a stick and was allowed to sit on the bed. When the police came across a pair of speakers they reportedly slapped the victim, making his mother faint. However she regained consciousness to hear SI Hemantha tell Jayantha that they might accuse him of having a bomb in his possession and send him to prison. Bail is usually denied in these cases. 

The next morning Sunethra waited for three hours at the station but was allowed to see her son, though she reports hearing sounds of abuse, and him shouting and crying. He told her later that he was being beaten almost daily and that he had been forced to handle a parcel to create fingerprint evidence. 

On October 22, far beyond the 24 hour detainment allowed by the Sri Lankan Criminal Procedure Code, Jayantha was presented before the Kandy Magistrate and accused of carrying a bomb in the left pocket of his trousers when he was arrested. However witnesses confirm that he was wearing a sarong at the time, which has no pockets. It should be noted that the victim has no confidence in his lawyer; who NGOs tell us works closely with the local police officers. He did not bring up Jayantha’s torture or the matter of the fabricated charges in front of the Magistrate. 

Since then the victim has been in Bogambara Remand Prison, and the Katugastota officers have filed 14 cases against him for theft, plus another charge regarding the bomb. He has been acquitted of eleven cases due to the lack of evidence, but says that he was pressured by officers into pleading guilty for the three remaining cases; in return for their help him with the more serious possession charge. This case (B2852) was last called at Kandy Magistrate’s Court in July and is soon to be called again. 

SUGGESTED ACTION 

Please send letters to the authorities listed below noting your concern and urging a thorough, legitimate investigation into the allegations of torture and charge fabrication. The AHRC is also sending a letter to the UN Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, informing him of this case.

To support this case, please click here: SEND APPEAL LETTER