SRI LANKA: An abduction of a man allegedly by the Sri Lankan military 

Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information about abduction of a man of Madawachiya, Sri Lanka in a notorious white van incident on 4 September 2006. It is reported that one day before his abduction, Sri Lankan army personnel came to his house to look for him. There is sufficient suspicion that the victim might have been abducted and is being detained by the Sri Lankan army. The victim’s family lodged complaints to the one-man Commission on the disappearances as well as several police stations in Madawachiya and Colombo. But so far, three months after the incident they have not seen any progress regarding their complaints from those agencies. The family now seeks immediate intervention into the case from both domestic and international organizations.

CASE DETAILS:

At around 1:30am on 4 September 2006, Mr. Jayasinghe Steven (Jaya) left his home in Madawachiya in order to go to Colombo by bus which is run by his travel agency ‘Kabilan Travel’. The driver of the bus was an employee of Jaya’s company and they knew each other since before the trip to Colombo.

The bus arrived in Colombo at around 8:30am on the same day. The bus stopped at the private lot near Gunasinghe Pura in Colombo. Just before the bus stopped in the lot, Jaya received a strange phone call to his mobile phone that terminated when he answered it. It might be the case that someone on the bus wanted to identify him. When Jaya and the bus driver got off the bus, a white van with six persons inside was waiting for him. One of the persons in the white van called to Jaya to come with them and intimidated the driver to move on without interfering. According to the bus driver, Jaya was then taken into the white van which then left. The bus driver immediately noted down the white van’s number of licence plate (250-4835), and informed Jaya’s family that he had been abducted in Colombo.

According to the family, prior to his abduction, Jaya was detained by the Sri Lankan army on August 28 briefly and was inquired about his family history. Jaya’s father is a Sinhalese ethnic and his mother is a Tamil ethnic. Furthermore, on September 3, the day before his abduction, Sri Lankan army personnel reportedly came to Jaya’s house in Madawachiya to look for him. The family also said that after Jaya’s abduction, on September 13, persons identified themselves from the Special Investigation Unit (SIU) came to his house. But instead of inquiring about details of Jaya’s abduction, they asked Jaya’s wife about the details of her family. Suspicion arises based on the facts above that Jaya might have been abducted and is being detained by the Sri Lankan army.

Meanwhile, Jaya’s family has been working hard to search for Jaya, asking police and other governmental authorities and human rights groups for their help since the day he was abducted. Jaya’s wife went to many places in Colombo which is about 200km away from her home. Whenever she travels to Colombo to request the search of Jaya, she has to leave her three children with her family or friends.

She also went to see the members of ‘Karuna Group’ which is one of the factions of the paramilitary group. A few days later, she lodged a complaint to the one-man Commission led by Judge Makanama, who was appointed by the president to make inquiries into cases of disappearances. The complaints were also lodged to the police stations in Madawachiya and Colombo. However, so far the family have not received any information regarding their complaints from those agencies.

The AHRC condemns the dramatically escalating number of cases of forced disappearance and abduction in Sri Lanka. The AHRC also condemns that the Sri Lankan government in its failure to stop such abductions and identify the alleged perpetrators of those cases, in particular those in which a white van is involved. We urge the Sri Lankan government to conduct an immediate and impartial inquiry into this case, find out whereabouts of the victim, identify those responsible and take action against them. Especially, the possibility of army’s involvement into his abduction should be investigated as well.

Please also refer to the disappearance cases which the AHRC has reported for the last three months. There is little progress in all these cases.

UA-368-2006: SRI LANKA: One man killed after abduction and his brother complains of his possible forced disappearance
UA-317-2006: SRI LANKA: Another abduction case by a white van without a number plate
UA-310-2006: SRI LANKA: Another forced disappearance in Jaffna
UA-305-2006: SRI LANKA: Alleged abduction of three brothers by the Navy officials
UA-280-2006: SRI LANKA: One Catholic priest and a man disappear

To learn more about the issue of disappearance in Sri Lanka, please also see our recent statements:

1. AS-278-2006: SRI LANKA: The launching of a signature campaign by victims of past disappearances to demand authentic investigations and against sham commissions
2. AS-277-2006: SRI LANKA: Commission to investigate disappearances – real or fake
3. AS-213-2006: SRI LANKA: White vans without number plates; the symbol of disappearances reappear

SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please write a letter to the relevant Sri Lankan authorities to urge them to conduct a fair and immediate investigation into the case of Jaya’s abduction.  Please also urge the government authorities to give the victim’s family all sorts of assistance to seek remedies immediately.

 

 

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