Dear friends,
The Asian Human Rights Commission has been informed by reliable sources that a 25-year-old three-wheel driver has been illegally arrested and tortured by two Police Constables attached to the Palmadulla police station. The victim has suffered severe injuries and has received medical treatment. So far, no action has been taken against the alleged perpetrators.
We urge your immediate intervention demanding a disciplinary inquiry and disciplinary action by the Inspector General of the Police (IGP), as well as an investigation and investigation and indictment under the Torture Act by the Special Investigation Unit (SIU) against the alleged perpetrators. Also, we urge you to demand full protection for the victim.
Urgent Appeals Desk
Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)
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DETAILED INFORMATION:
Name of the victim: Liyana Kankanamlage Vipula Saman Kumara (25),living in Lahiru Road, Lower Bopitiya, Palmadulla; occupation, three-wheel driver
Date and place of the incident: 4 June 2005, Palmadulla police post
Alleged perpetrators: Reserve Police Constable Jayantha (37473) and Police Constable Sumanasekera (3703), attached to the Palmadulla police post
Account of the incident:
On the morning of 4 June 2005 the victim walked by the Palmadulla police post manned at the time by the aforementioned perpetrators to buy a cigarette at a boutique nearby. As he passed by the perpetrators commented that the victim was drunk. The victim smiled and admitted that he did have a little too much alcohol to consume the night before whilst at a wedding party of a colleague. Thereafter the victim walked back to his vehicle. The policemen at the police post viz. Jayantha and Sumanasekera then accosted him, pulled him out of the three-wheeler and mercilessly assaulted him. They accused him of attempting to drive his vehicle whilst intoxicated. They then dragged him to the police post and continued their assault on him.
According to the victims mother, when she visited her son in police custody later that day, he was wreaked with pain from the police torture, and also had shoe marks all over his body (presumably from having been savagely kicked.) She also claims that he was bleeding from his nose and ears. Later he was released on bail. The parents took him home but because he was in unbearable pain they admitted him around 3 p.m. to the Ratnapura hospital. According to the victims mother, her son had been severely injured by the alleged police assault, so much so that he is still in ward 6 of the hospital (viz. 7 June 2005) receiving medical treatment for his injuries.
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SAMPLE LETTER
Dear __________,
Re: Illegal arrest and torture of a 25-year-old by the Palmadulla police
Name of the victim: Liyana Kankanamlage Vipula Saman Kumara (25),living in Lahiru Road, Lower Bopitiya, Palmadulla, occupation, three-wheel driver
Date and place of the incident: 4 June 2005, Palmadulla police post
Alleged perpetrators: Reserve Police Constable Jayantha (37473) and Police Constable Sumanasekera (3703), attached to the Palmadulla police post.
It has come to my attention that Liyana Kankanamlage Vipula Saman Kumara, a 25-year old three-wheel driver living in Lahiru Road, Lower Bopitiya, Palmadulla, has allegedly been severely tortures by Reserve Police Constable Jayantha (37473), and Police Constable Sumanasekera (3703). Both of them are attached to the Palmadulla police post. The incident took place at the morning of 4 July 2005.
I have learned that the victim had passed by the Palmadulla police post to buy a cigarette at a nearby boutique, when the two abovementioned Constables commented that he was drunk, a fact that the victim who had spent the night before at a wedding party of a colleague admitted. After returning to his vehicle he was pulled out of it and assaulted by Jayantha and Sumanasekera, who accused him of attempting to drive his vehicle while being intoxicated. They then dragged him to the police post and continued to assault him.
According to his mother, who visited the victim in police custody later that day, Liyana was wreaked in pain, had shoe marks all over his body and was bleeding from his ears and nose. After he was released on bail, his parents took him to the Ratnapura hospital at 3 p.m., where he received medical treatment for his severe injuries.
I am outraged by the suffering arbitrarily inflicted on the victim by the abovementioned Police Constables and urge you to take all necessary steps to ensure that the Inspector General of Police (IGP) direct an immediate disciplinary inquiry against the alleged perpetrators, and that appropriate disciplinary action be taken against them, including suspension of their duty or dismissal. Moreover, I urge you to instruct the Special Investigation Unit (SIU) to conduct an immediate investigation into the incident and ensure that the perpetrators are indicted under the Torture Act. Lastly, the victim has to be provided with adequate protection and security against probable harassment by the alleged perpetrators.
I look for your immediate intervention into this matter.
Yours, sincerely
__________________
PLEASE SEND A LETTER TO:
1. 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
2. Mr. Chandra Fernando
Inspector General of Police (IGP)
New Secretariat
Colombo 1
SRI LANKA
Fax: +94 11 2 440440/327877
3. Mr. Mahinda Rajapakse
Prime Minister
Cambridge Place
Colombo 7
SRI LANKA
Fax: +94 11 2 682905 / 575454
E-mail: secpm@sltnet.lk or bradmanw@slt.lk
4. Mr. Ranjith Abeysuriya
Police Commission Chairperson
National Police Commission
3rd Floor, Rotunda Towers,
109 Galle Road, Colombo 03.
SRI LANKA
Tel: +94 11 23865
Fax: +94 11 2 669 528
Fax HOME: +94 11 2 674148
E-mail: polcom@sltnet.lk
5. 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.lk
6. Mr. P.A.S. Perera
Senior Superintendent of Ratnapura
Police Superintendents Office
Ratnapura
SRI LANKA
Fax: +94 45 2 223 840
7. Prof. Manfred Nowak
Special Rapporteur on the Question of Torture
Attn: Mr. Safir Syed
C/o OHCHR-UNOG
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Tel: +41 22 917 9230
Fax: +41 22 917 9016 (general)
Thank you.
Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission
