UPDATE (Sri Lanka): SIU hauls perpetrators before the Magistrate’s Court 

Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information regarding an illegal arrest, torture and fabrication of charges against Janaka Perera and Tilan Perera  of Panadura by the Panadura police in June 2002 (See further: Article 2, vol. 1 no. 4, “Case studies of torture committed by the police in Sri Lanka“).  The Special Investigation Unit (SIU) filed a case against five policemen in the Magistrate’s Court but the counsel for the accused is vigorously attempting to get the case dismissed because both victims are dead and thus unavailable to give evidence in the court.

To briefly recap the case, the two victims are brothers-in-law and were arrested by Police Constable Lal Gunathilaka and seven other police officers at their home on 28 June 2002. They were then tortured by several police officers led by PC Lal Gunathilaka at the Panadura police station. On the following day, they were released after being forced to sign statements, the contents of which were not explained to them. They had to appear at the Panadura Magistrate’s Court on July 2 regarding fabricated charges against them by the Panadura police, after which they were again released on bail. The victims’ families strongly believed that the harassment and inhuman treatment of the victims were committed at the instigation of one PC Lal Gunathilaka of the Panadura police, who was at the time attempting to evict the victims from their lands.

The victims subsequently brought the matter to the attention of Janasansadaya, a local human rights organisation who together with the AHRC highlighted the case internationally as well as coming to the aid of the hapless victims by obtaining legal assistance to challenge the fabricated charges filed against them.

A fundamental rights application was also filed before the Supreme Court but unfortunately, due to the bungling of the lawyers who, though retained to conduct the case before the Supreme Court, merely filed papers in the Registry and thereafter failed to take any further steps to support the case before open court, the case was therefore unsuccessful. The victims also complained to the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL), which began inquiries into the complaint. But due to the untimely death of both victims (unrelated to the incident), the HRCSL recommendation has still not been issued.

Later, the victims were discharged from the fabricated charges filed against them by the police in the Panadura Magistrate’s Court. Subsequently, due to the complaints and publicity given to the incident, the Police Special Investigation Unit (SIU) began investigations into the incident and filed a case in the Magistrate’s Court against five policemen of the Panadura police station. Two important points revealed in the case are: (1) that the identities of the 4th and 5th accused were revealed only after the SIU investigations; and (2) charging the accused (police officers) for fabricating charges against innocent people is a common phenomenon in Sri Lanka but errant policemen are rarely brought to task.

As mentioned earlier, the two main witnesses in the case against the five accused (viz. Janaka and Tilan Perera) have died and this fact was brought to the notice of court on 19 July 2006. Though there was a vigorous attempt by the counsel for the accused to get the case dismissed because the victims were dead and thus unavailable to give evidence, there seems little reason why the case cannot go forward and a successful conviction obtained in light of the other evidence available. However as there is the constant likelihood that this case will be so dismissed, it is extremely important that the aggrieved parties’ interests be defended by legal counsel.

SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please write to the Attorney General’s Department with copies to the following people and urge him to case continue to pursue this case in the court and ensure that the responsible police officers are convicted.

To support this appeal, please click: 

 

 

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