Dear friends,
It has come to the attention of the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) that Mr. Wijesekara Pathiranage Lionel Weerasinghe (33) was arbitrarily arrested and brutally tortured by police officers attached to the Yatawatta Police station on 16-17 July 2004. Mr. Wijesekara Pathiranage was allegedly charged of stealing cinnamon worth Rs. 80,000 without any concrete evidence. The victim was remanded to the Kandy prison for about a month and was released on bail on August 17.
In particular, the manner of his torture by the Yatawatta police is extremely brutal. According to the information we have received, the police pricked the tips of the victim’s fingers and toes with needles. Furthermore, the police made Mr. Wijesekara Pathiranage squat and inserted a pole behind of his knee-joint and arm-joint and brutally beat him for about one and a half hours while he was turning like a wheel.
More seriously, even though Mr. Wijesekara Pathiranage complained about his torture to the National Police Commission (NPC) and the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) after he was released on bail on 17 August 2004, no proper investigation has yet taken by the above institutions.
AHRC calls for your urgent intervention on this matter. Please send a letter to the government of Sri Lanka and request it to conduct an immediate investigation into this case and arrest the responsible police officers without delay.
Urgent Appeals Desk
Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)
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DETAILED INFORMATION:
Name of the victim: Mr. Wijesekara Pathiranage Lionel Weerasinghe, 33 years old, a mason, resides in Waguruhena, Matalapitiya, Walawela Matale
Alleged perpetrators: 1) Constable no. 25713 Perera, 2) Constable no. 29250 Lionel, 3) Constable no. 31957 Lionel, 4) Constable no. 16438 Sunil, 5) Officer in Charge (OIC) Bandaranayaka of the Yatawatta Police Station, 6) two other responsible officers attached to the Yatawatta Police Station
Date of arbitrary arrest and torture: 16-17 July 2004 (He was released from the Kandy remand prison in Kings Street on 18 August 2004)
Place of incident: Yatawatta Police Station
Case details:
Mr. Wijesekara Pathiranage Lionel Weerasinghe (33) was arbitrarily arrested and was subjected to brutal torture by the Yatawatta police on 16-17 July 2004. The Yatawatta police charged Mr. Wijesekara Pathiranage of theft. which the victim consistently denies.
On 16 July 2004 at around 11:00 am when Mr. Wijesekara Pathiranage was working in a cinnamon plantation owned by Mr. Kulathunga, six officers in civilian clothes from the Yatawatta police station arrived there by a white van (No. 32-8435). As soon as they found Mr. Wijesekara Pathiranage, they handcuffed him and put him into the van and took him to his house without any explanation. At his house, they told Mr. Wijesekara Pathiranage, “We know you have a gun. Hand it over to us.” When he said that he had no gun, the police started to beat his back with a wooden pole that was three feet in length and one inch in diameter. Then, they put him back inside the van and continued to assault him until they reached the Yatawatta Police Station. This was at around 2:45 pm.
At the police station, the police took Mr. Wijesekara Pathiranage to a room and removed his handcuffs. Then, the police crossed his hands and bound them together forward. After that, they ordered him to squat and put his bound hands in front of his knees and the police inserted a pole in the hole between the back of his knees and his arm. They lifted the victim and fixed one side of the pole on the windowsill and the other side on the table in the room. Then, the police brutally beat Mr. Wijesekara Pathiranage on his buttocks and the soles of his feet with an iron bar that was about one and a half feet long for about one and a half hours, while Mr. Wijesekara Pathiranage was turning like a wheel. When they assaulted him, the police accused Mr. Wijesekara Pathiranage of stealing cinnamon worth Rs. 80,000 which he did not know anything about.
After this severe torture, the police put Mr. Wijesekara Pathiranage down from that position and had him lay on the floor. The Officer in Charge (OIC) Bandaranayaka gave the victim two white colored tablets which he did not know were for what and ordered him to take it. The police unbound his hands and handcuffed him again. Then, the OIC Bandaranayaka and two other police officers took Mr. Wijesekara Pathiranage to his home and ordered him to give the ‘goods [cinnamon]’. When he continuously insisted his innocence by saying that he did not steal anything, the police blindfolded him and went around the village and announced that he was a thief in front of other villagers. Then the police took the victim back to the the Yatawatta police station and put him in a room, again.
At around 5:30 pm, the police took Mr. Wijesekara Pathiranage to another room. In the room, they started to prick the tips of his left thumb and little finger with two needles and pressured him to make a false confession. When Mr. Wijesekara Pathiranage again denied the charges against him, the police pricked the tips of his left toes with two needles. After that, they severely assaulted the victim again with a wooden pole until midnight.
On the next day (July 17), again the police ordered the victim to take two white colored tablets. When he refused to do so, they threatened him that they would kill him if he did not take the tablets so he had to take them. After that, the police started to torture him again in the said same manner (in the wheel position) for another one and a half hours. While he was in police custody, no medical attention was provided to the victim. At around 8:30 pm of the same day, the victim was brought to the Matale Police Station from the Yatawatta Police Station and charged with stealing cinnamon worth Rs. 80,000.
It was reported that while the victim was in police custody on July 17, several police officers from the Yatawatta police station searched the house and took the properties of the victim like the booster of the television, the power pack, two receipts of pawned items in the Bank and the sum of Rs. 38,000.
Mr. Wijesekara Pathiranage was produced before the Matale magistrate court on July 18 and the court remanded him to the Kandy Remand Prison until August 2, on which date he was enlarged on Rs. 10,000/ – cash bail and 25,000/- personal bail. However, he was remanded for another 14 days as he was not able to pay the said amount for his bail. He was released on bail on August 17 and was ordered to report to the Matale Police Station every last Sunday of each month. After the victim was released, he made a complaint to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and the National Police Commission (NPC) about his case, but no action has yet been taken by these institutions to investigate this matter.
AHRC is gravely concerned by the inhuman torture of Mr. Wijesekara Pathiranage by the six police officers and OIC Bandaranayaka of the Yatawatta Police Station. AHRC calls for the local authorities to conduct an immediate investigation into this case and take legal/disciplinary action against the responsible officers who were involved in the torture of Mr. Wijesekara Pathiranage. AHRC also requests the local authorities to take appropriate action to withdraw false charges against him and provide compensation to him as well.
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SAMPLE LETTER
Dear _________,
Re: SRI LANKA:?A man brutally tortured by the Yatawatta police
Name of the victim: Mr. Wijesekara Pathiranage Lionel Weerasinghe, 33 years old, a mason, resides in Waguruhena, Matalapitiya, Walawela Matale
Alleged perpetrators: 1) Constable no. 25713 Perera, 2) Constable no. 29250 Lionel, 3) Constable no. 31957 Lionel, 4) Constable no. 16438 Sunil, 5) other two police officers attached to the Yatawatta Police Station, 6) Officer in Charge (OIC) Bandaranayaka of the Yatawatta Police Station
Date of arbitrary arrest and torture: 16-17 July 2004 (He was released from the Kandy remand prison in Kings Street on 18 August 2004)
Place of incident: Yatawatta Police Station
I am gravely concerned by the arbitrary arrest and inhuman torture of Mr. Wkjesekara Pathiranage Lionel Weerasinghe (33) by the Yatawatta police on 16-17 July 2004.
According to the information I have received, on July 16 the Yatawatta Police arrested the victim on charge of stealing cinnamon worth Rs. 80,000 without any concrete evidence. The victim claims his innocence on this matter.
After his arrest, the victim was subjected to brutal and inhuman torture by the officers for two days (July 16-17). He was first brutally beaten by a wooden pole by the police at his house and then by an iron pole on his buttocks and the soles of his feet at the Yatawatta Police Station. Moreover, when he continuously insisted his innocence, the police showed their utmost brutality by pricking two needles on the tips of his fingers and toes and tortured him again with a wooden pole at midnight. Ironically, according to the victim's wife, the Yatawatta police came to the victims house and stole his properties including the sum of Rs. 38,000 on July 17, while the victim was tortured at the Yatawatta Police Station.
I have learnt that the National Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka has launched the "zero tolerance of torture" policy to eliminate the practice of torture in police stations and the National Police Commission announced the issue of torture as their priority. But it seems to me that nothing has been changed. On the contrary, the failure of implementing these policies has worsened the situation.
I urge you to order an immediate investigation into this case and take legal/disciplinary action against the responsible officers who were involved in this torture case quickly. I also urge you to suspend their service at the police station for the security of the victim and his family while the investigation is going on. I further urge the local authorities to take proper action to withdraw the false charges against the victim and provide compensation to the victim as well. Lastly, I urge the government of Sri Lanka, as a state party of the Convention Against Torture (CAT), to strictly implement CAT of the domestic level and take strong action to illiminate the torture in Sri Lanka. Especially, I request the NHRC and NPC to take effective and genuine action on the issue of torture. ?lt;br />
Truly yours,
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Send a letter to:
1. Mr. Mahindra Rajapakse
Prime Minister
Cambridge Place
Colombo 7
SRI LANKA
Fax: +94 11 2 682905 / 575454
E-mail:
secpm@sltnet.lk or
bradmanw@slt.lk2. Mr. T.I. de Silva
Inspector General of Police (IGP)
New Secretariat
Colombo 1
SRI LANKA
Fax: +94 11 2 440440/426711/327877
3. 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.net4. Mr. Ranjith Abeysuriya PC
Chairperson
National Police Commission
69-1 Ward Place, Colombo 7
SRI LANKA
Fax: +94 11 2 669 528
Fax HOME: +94 11 2 674148
E-mail:
polcom@sltnet.lk5. Dr. Radhika Coomaraswamy
Chairperson
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.lk6. 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
Thank you.
Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)
