Dear friends,
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is calling for your urgent intervention to provide immediate protection to a witness of a custodial death case, who is receiving death threats in Sri Lanka. He is the key eye witness of the custodial death of Mr. Hettiarachchige Abeysiri, 52, who was tortured to death by the Peliyagoda police on 14 July 2005 (See further: UA-122-2005 and AS-82-2005). The trial began on 6 December 2006 and is on-going at the High Court of Colombo.
UPDATED INFORMATION:
Mr. Hettiarachchige Abeysiri, 52, the resident of 506/1 Delgahawatte Wanawasala, Kelaniya, was illegally arrested by the Peliyagoda police on 13 July 2005 on the very trivial ground that his neighbor accused him of being responsible for the loss of a mobile telephone. Instead of conducting a proper investigation, the Peliyagoda police brutally tortured Mr. Abeysiri to death with cricket wickets. To see our original urgent appeal on this case, please gTo support this appeal, please click:o to: UA-122-2005.
This case gained a lot of intervention from local and international human rights groups, including Mr. Philip Alston, the UN Special Rapporteur on Extra-judicial, Summary, or Arbitrary Executions (refer to Special Rapporteur’s 2006 Annual Report, page 230; E/CN.4/2006/53/Add.1) .
The trial recently began on 6 December 2006 and is currently under process at Court No.4 of the High Court of Colombo (case bearing no.3076/06). Four of the alleged perpetrators charged in this case are police officers namely; K.L.A. Chaminda Kumara, S.C.A. Dharamapriya Weerawardene, D.J.A.L.L. Dasanayake and M.A.M Assiz. They all charged with murder for attempting to get a confession through use of force and torture under the Convention against Torture ACT (Act No. 22 of 1994).
A key witness of this case is Liyanage Pradeep Asok Kumar, who witnessed the police torturing the victim while he was in custody at the Paliyagoda police station.
According to the latest information, Liyanage is now in hiding since he has received death threats as well as being informed about an assassination plot against him. He is afraid to come to court and is suffering from panic attacks. Liyanage is so scared that he stutters when talking due to the fear he has in going to court and giving evidence in the case.
The AHRC is afraid that Liyanage might face a similar fate like that of Gerard Perera who was assassinated just a few days before he was to give evidence before the court on thTo support this appeal, please click:To support this appeal, please click:e torture he had suffered (See further: UA-157-2004 and UP-76-2004). Gerard’s case is one glaring example of the Sri Lankan government’s inability to protect witness in Sri Lanka. Unfortunately, this is not an isolated incident and many other witnesses have died in similar fashion in the country.
The AHRC is also afraid that the family of the victim in this case would be denied justice and legal redress and that the alleged perpetrators would be freed without any punishment under such circumstances. According to the credible statistics, the prosecution success rate in Sri Lanka is only 4%, mainly due to witnesses avoiding court out of fear for their lives. Sri Lanka does not have a witness protection law or a witness protection programme.
SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please write to the relevant authorities listed below regarding this serious matter. Please strongly urge them to immediately provide effective protection to Liyanage and ensure that he gives his statement against the four accused police officers before the court.
To support this case, please click here: SEND APPEAL LETTER
SAMPLE LETTER
Dear ___________,
SRI LANKA: Urgent protection needed for a key eye witness of a custodial death case
Name of victim: Mr. Liyanage Pradeep Asok Kumar; resident of 63/2. Thelagapatha Road Wanavasala, Kelaniya; key eye witness of the custodial death case of Mr. Hettiarachchige Abeysiri (case bearing no.3076/06 at High Court of Colombo)
Problem concerned: Liyanage is currently in hiding since he has received death threats as well as being informed about an assassination plot against him. He is afraid to come to court and is suffering from panic attacks. Protection must be immediately provided
I would like to call for your urgent intervention in order to provide immediate protection to a witness of a custodial death case, who receives severe death threats in Sri Lanka.
Liyanage Pradeep Asok Kumar is a material witness in a case involving the custodial death of a man named Hettiarachchige Abeysiri, 52, who was tortured to death by the Peliyagoda police on 14 July 2005 after being illegally arrested on the very trivial grounds that his neighbor complained against him for the loss of a mobile receiver of a telephone. Mr. Kumar witnessed the Peliyagoda police tortured Mr. Abeysiri to death while he was in custody at the Paliyagoda Police Station.
As far as I know, this case gained a lot of intervention from local and international human rights groups, including the UN Special Rapporteur on Extra-judicial, Summary, or Arbitrary Executions (refer to Special Rapporteur’s 2006 Annual Report, page 230; E/CN.4/2006/53/Add.1).
The trial of this case recently began on 6 December 2006 and is currently under process at Court No.4 of the High Court of Colombo (case bearing no.3076/06). Four of the alleged perpetrators charged with murder in this case are four police officers namely; K.L.A. Chaminda Kumara, S.C.A. Dharamapriya Weerawardene, D.J.A.L.L. Dasanayake and M.A.M Assiz.
However, I was informed that Liyanage is now in hiding since he has received death threats as well as being informed about an assassination plot against him. He is afraid to come to court and is suffering from panic attacks.
I therefore strongly request you to provide effective protection to Liyanage immediately to ensure no repeat of the association of a torture victim Gerard Perera, who was associated around 10 days before giving a statement before the court on the torture he had suffered. Otherwise, Mr. Abeysiri’s family would be denied justice and legal redress and that the alleged perpetrators would be free without any punishment.
I am also well aware that unfortunately this is not an isolated incident but many other witnesses have died in similar ways in Sri Lanka. As far as I know, the prosecution success rate in Sri Lanka is only 4%, mainly due to witnesses avoiding court out of fear for their lives. Furthermore, Sri Lanka does not have a witness protection law or a witness protection programme. I therefore request you to use your official capacity to ensure that the Government of Sri Lanka introduce a witness protection law or relevant programme and strictly enforce it without further delay. Only through these measures, the witnesses of human rights violations will come forward to give their evidence before court and the victims and their families will be able to achieve effective legal redress.
I look for your immediate intervention into this matter.
Yours truly,
——————
PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTER TO:
1. Mr. Mahinda Rajapakse
President
Socialist Democratic Republic of Sri Lanka
C/- Office of the President
Temple Trees
150, Galle Road
Colombo 3
SRI LANKA
Fax: +94 11 2472100 / +94 11 2446657
Email: secretary@presidentsoffice.lk
2. Mr. K. C. Kamalasabesan
Attorney General
Attorney General’s Department
Colombo 12
SRI LANKA
Fax: +94 11 2 436421
Email: attorney@sri.lanka.net
3. Mr. Victor Perera
Inspector General of Police
New Secretariat
Colombo 1
SRI LANKA
Fax: +94 11 2 440440/327877
E-mail: igp@police.lk
4. Secretary
National Police Commission
3rd Floor, Rotunda Towers,
109 Galle Road
Colombo 03
SRI LANKA
Tel: +94 11 2 395310
Fax: +94 11 2 395867
E-mail: npcgen@sltnet.lk
5. Mr. J Thangawelu
Deputy Inspector General- Legal range
Police Headquarters
Colombo 1
SRI LANKA
Fax: +94 11 2381 394
6. Mr. Philip Alston
Special Rapporteur on Extra-judicial, Summary, or Arbitrary Executions
Attn: Lydie Ventre
Room 3-016
c/o OHCHR-UNOG
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Tel: +41 22 917 9155
Fax: +41 22 917 9006 (ATTN: SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR EXECUTIONS)
7. Prof. Manfred Nowak
Special Rapporteur on the Question of Torture
Attn: Safir Syed
c/o OHCHR-UNOG
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Tel: +41 22 917 9230
Fax: +41 22 917 9016 (ATTN: SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR TORTURE)a
Thank you.
Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (ahrchk@ahrchk.org)
