SRI LANKA: A 52-year-old man allegedly tortured to death by the Peliyagoda police over a trivial complaint 

Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission has been informed that 52-year-old Hettiarachchige Abeysiri residing at 506/1 Delgahawatte Wanawasala, Kelaniya was tortured to death by the Peliyagoda police on 14 July 2005 after being illegally arrested on 13 July 2005. The police allegedly arrested him on the very trivial grounds that his neighbor complained against him for the loss of a mobile receiver of a telephone. Instead of conducting a proper investigation, the Peliyagoda police brutally tortured Mr. Abeysiri with cricket wickets. He was later taken to hospital where he died soon after. The postmortem report stated that the victim’s death was due to injuries caused by blunt instruments.

We call for your urgent intervention in this matter. Please urge the Sri Lankan authorities to inquire into this case thoroughly and arrest/prosecute responsible officers. Please also urge them to take action against the Officer in Charge (OIC of the Peliyagoda Police Station) who neglected command responsibility under the Convention Against Torture Act (Act No. 22 of 1994)

Urgent Appeals Desk
Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)
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DETAILED INFORMATION:

Name of the victim: Hettiarachchige Abeysiri, 52 years old, married with one child
Address of the victim: 506/1 Delgahawatte Wanawasala, Kelaniya
Period of arbitrary detention and torture: 13-14 July 2005
Case status: The victim died on 14 July 2005 after being brutally tortured by the Peliyagoda police

Case details:

Hettiarachchige Abeysiri was a hardworking daily paid labourer and he worked in the house of neighbor Mr. Ratnayake, a former police officer who has gone abroad and is due to return home soon. One day, Ms. Ratnayake made a complaint to the Peliyagoda police stating that she had lost her mobile receiver of a land phone, which cannot be used outside. On 13 July 2005 at about 11:30pm, the police arrived at Mr. Abeysiri’s house. Mr. Abeysiri was sleeping at that time and the police awoke him and took him into custody saying that he was wanted for theft. According to Mr. Abeysiri’s elder sister, the police did not produce any warrant and that they, except the driver, wore civilian clothes at the time of his arrest. They also slap Mr. Abeysiri hard several times.

The next day (July 14), the police took Mr. Abeysiri back to his house and his sister’s son saw that he was handcuffed. The police took the son-in-law of Mr. Abeysiri’s sister, Mr. Liyanage Pradeep Asokakumara, into custody and demanded him to show the place where the stolen good was sold.  The police then took the two to Ms. Ratnayake’s house and she slapped Mr. Abeysiri in front of other people and they were taken to the Crime Section of the Peliyagoda Police Station.  At this time, the police were again in civilian clothes and they are the ones who tortured Mr. Abeysiri.

According to Mr. Asokakumara, the policemen brutally assaulted Mr. Abeysiri with cricket wickets for half an hour in front of him. One Sub Inspector came with another police officer and he also tortured Mr. Abeysiri.  Mr. Asokakumara could not watch the torture because it was too brutal and he moved away from the scene for some time. When he returned to the place half an hour later, Mr. Asokakumara saw that the four policemen in civilian clothes were carrying Mr. Abeysiri’s body to hospital. Mr. Asokakumara was not tortured and the police recorded his statement and released him at 7:30pm. When he asked to the police about his uncle, they said that he was hospitalized because he was sick.

In the meantime, at 5:00pm, a policeman went to Mr. Abeysiri’s house and asked someone to go to Peliyagoda Police Station. When Mr. Jerome Allistace, a relative of Mr. Abeysiri, went to the police station, the police informed him that Mr. Abeysiri was sick and the police therefore took him to hospital where he died. Mr. Allistace went to the mortuary along with other people and the Assistant Judicial Medical Officer (AJMO) Dr. G.A.B. Abeysinghe in the Colombo National Hospital, who examined the victim’s body, said that Mr. Abeysiri had died due to injuries.  Mr. Allistace saw that there were several injuries on the victim’s body, including to his head and left leg. In his postmortem report, Dr. Abeysinghe stated that it was not a natural death and that the victim died due to injuries caused by blunt instruments. The victim’s body was released to the family on July 15 and his funeral took place on July 17.

The AHRC is deeply concerned yet by another case of extra judicial killings in Sri Lankan police stations. As seen in this case, in most of these cases, victims are tortured for the most trivial of reasons, such as stealing bananas or not immediately stopping a vehicle when asked to do so.

The AHRC therefore strongly urges the Sri Lankan authorities to inquire into this case immediately and bring those responsible before court as soon as possible. The Officer in Charge (OIC) of the Peliyagoda Police Station must be charged under the Convention Against Torture Act (Act No. 22 of 1994) for his omission to supervise the lower-ranking officers. Police torture and extra judicial killings should not be treated as isolated incidents caused only by a few lower-ranking officers, but as by-products of a system that deliberately neglects command responsibility.

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