Dear friends,
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that a man was brutally tortured by Sub-inspector (S.I.) Silva of the Wellipenna Police Station at Kathutrara district on 3 February 2004. The cruelty of the torture is unbelievable and the victim, who needs urgent medical treatment, is currently in the Remand Prison at Kaluthara facing fabricated charges by the police.
AHRC calls for your urgent intervention into this serious matter. Please send letters to the local authorities requesting them to provide immediate medical treatment to the victim and bring S.I. Silva to justice.
Urgent Appeals Desk
Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)
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DETAIED INFORMATION:
Name of the victim: Mr. Koraleliyanage Palitha Tissa Kumara, currently remanded at the Remand Prison Kaluthara
Name of alleged perpetrator: Sub-inspector (S.I.) Silva of the Wellipenna Police Station at Kathutrara district
Date of torture: 3 February 2004
Case details:
Mr. Tissa Kumara has suffered extraordinary torture at the hands of Sub-inspector Silva of the Wellipenna Police Station of Kathutrara district. He was arrested on 3 February2004 and kept at the Welipenna Police Station until 6 February 2004, where he was brutally tortured by S.I. Silva.
According to the information we have received, S.I. Silva severely tortured Mr. Tissa Kumara on the morning of 3 February 2004. He assaulted the victim all over the body with cricket post (wicket), particularly on the neck, back, ears, head, hands, buttocks, ankles and knees. There are over forty injuries on his body, most of which are serious, and the marks from the hitting are clearly visible all over the body. Due to the torture, Mr. Tissa Kumara cannot stand and has serious injuries on the left side of the head, and therefore he cannot sleep on that side. His right hand was handcuffed to the iron rails of the police cell and S.I. Silva pulled him up and down with it many times, injuring the victim’s wrist severely. S.I. Silva also hit the victim’s chin several times with a pistol.
One of the most extraordinarily cruel acts during the torture was to get a tuberculosis patient, who was also under police custody at the time, to spit into the mouth of Mr. Tissa Kumara. S.I. Silva then allegedly said to the victim that he would die within two months of the same disease. While he was under police custody for three days, Mr. Tissa Kumara vomited often.
In fact, some officers, including the Officer in Charge (O.I.C.) – Crimes at the police station, Mr. Weerasinghe, were shocked by the brutal assault and tried to stop S.I. Silva from torturing Mr. Tissa Kumara. The injuries were also so severe that several hospitals where he was taken refused to accept him, fearing that he would soon die of his injuries.
Mr. Tissa Kumara is a well-known and competent artist engaged in painting and sculpting. He won a gold medal from the Sri Lanka Hotel School in 1993. The only reason for his arrest was that he gave food to a person who is currently accused of some serious crimes. However, this person, who was also arrested, was not assaulted at all as he bribed to the police.
Mr. Tissa Kumara was produced before a Magistrate only after a lawyer, Mr. Tissa Almeida, came to the police station on his behalf. Before being taken to the Magistrate, Mr. Tissa Kumara was forced to place his thumbprint on a grenade given by S. I. Silva. According to the victim, the grenade looked new and the police unpacked it and forced him to place his fingerprint on it.
After being produced before the Magistrate on a special request made by his defense lawyer, Mr. Tissa Kumara was produced before the Judicial Medical Officer (J.M.O.) of Colombo on 12 February 2004. According to Mr. Tissa Kumara, six doctors examined him, and took X-rays and photographs of his injuries. After that, he was taken back to the Remand Prison, where he is unable to get proper medical care.
AHRC is gravely concerned about this brutal torture of Mr. Tissa Kumara and requests the government of Sri Lanka to intervene in this case immediately and provide appropriate medical treatment to the victim as soon as possible. S.I. Silva must be brought to justice and the victim should be released immediately.
SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please send a letter, fax or email to the addresses below and express your concern about this serious case.
1. Hon. Mr. Ranil Wickremasinghe
Prime Minister
Cambridge Place, Colombo 7
SRI LANKA
Fax: +94 11 2 682905 / 575454
E-mail: secpm@sltnet.lk or bradmanw@slt.lk
2. Hon. 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.net
3. Mr. Ranjith Abeysuriya PC
Chairman National Police Commission
69-1 Ward Place, Colombo 7
SRI LANKA
Fax: +94 11 2 669 128 / 691 926
Fax HOME: +94 11 2 674148
4. Dr. Radhika Coomaraswamy
Chairperson
National 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.lk
5. Mr. Shavindra Fernando
Senior State Counsel
Torture Perpetrators Investigation Unit
Attorney General’s Department
Colombo 12
SRI LANKA
Tel/Fax: +94 11 2 327 765
Email: Prsec@visual.lk or savifdo@yahoo.co.uk
6. 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
To support this case, please click here: SEND APPEAL LETTER
SAMPLE LETTER
Dear
Re: Severely injured torture victim needs urgent medical treatment
Name of the victim: Mr. Koraleliyanage Palitha Tissa Kumara, currently remanded at the Remand Prison Kaluthara
Name of alleged perpetrator: Sub-inspector (S.I.) Silva of the Wellipenna Police Station at Kathutrara district
Date of torture: 3 February 2004
I am shocked to learn about the brutal torture of Mr. Koraleliyanage Palitha Tissa Kumara by Sub-inspector (S.I.) Silva of the Wellipenna Police on 3 February 2004. The cruelty of the torture is unbelievable. S.I. Silva reportedly beat the victim with a cricket post (wicket) by S.I. Silva, causing over forty injuries, most of which are of serious. In particular, S.I. Silva forced a tuberculosis patient, who was also under police custody at the time, to spit into the mouth of the victim, saying that he would die within two months of the same disease. Due to the torture, the victim cannot stand and has serious injuries on the left side of the head, so he cannot sleep on that side. The victim has been remanded at the Remand Prison of Kaluthara, where he is unable to get proper medical care. The victim needs urgent treatment, considering of his serious condition.
The only reason for the victim’s arrest was that he allegedly gave food to a person who is currently accused of some serious crimes. However, according to the victim, he was forced to place his thumbprint on a grenade given by S. I. Silva before being produced in front of a Magistrate. It is serious crime to fabricate charges against innocent people.
Therefore, I strongly urge you to order an immediate and thorough investigation of this case and take the necessary action without delay. I also urge you to ensure the victim can access urgent medical care. I further request you to re-examine the circumstances of the case, particularly by interviewing the police officers and withdrawing the fabricated charge against the victim, and by seeing that he is released immediately.
If people suffer from torture by the police, where can they go and how can they expect any justice when they have a problem? I look forward to your intervention into this matter.
Sincerely yours,
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Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission(AHRC)
