SRI LANKA: A young man is subjected to attacks and abduction attempts by a wealthy businessman and the Ja-Ela police ignore his complaints

Name of the victim: D.K.K.S. Shehan Fernando of No. 22 St. Mary’s Road Ja-Ela

Alleged perpetrators:

1. The proprietor of Wasantha Motors and several of his staff

2. The Officer-in-Charge of the Ja-Ela Police Station

3. Police officers attached to the Peliyagoda Police Station and the Seduwa Police Station

Date of incident: 25 May, 2011

Place of incident: Wasantha Motors and other locations

I am writing to express my serious concern over the case of twenty two-year-old Diyaththara Kalutara Kalusayakkarage Sajith Shehan Fernando of No. 22 St. Mary’s Road Ja-Ela. Shehan has complained that his life is under severe threat due to a powerful businessman aided by some police officers pursuing him with white vans to abduct him and also by using criminal elements to severely assault him which, in his view is with the intention of killing him.

On 25 May, 2011 Shehan went to a shop, Wasantha Motors, to buy spare parts for his motorcycle. A person at the shop told him that they were closed and therefore they would not sell the parts that he required. However, at the time the doors of the shop were still open and Shehan explained that since he was going to work the next day could they please consider selling him the spare parts he required. Then two persons in the shop shouted, "Do you not understand what we told you?" Without warning they started to assault him. A third person, the owner of the shop, alighted from a nearby car and asked what was happening. He also struck Shehan who then ran away.

The next day he went to his job and his brother went to the shop to get the spare parts. His brother was detained in the shop and an uncle, Roshan, had to go to the shop and rescue him. On the same day a group of persons arrived in a white van at Shehan’s house and inquired as to his whereabouts from his mother. His mother in turn inquired as to why they were looking for Shehan and they replied that the director of Wasantha Motors was taking treatment at the Intensive Care Unit because Shehan pushed him, causing him to strike his head on some concrete. On the evening of the same day (26th), another group of people arrived at the house and threatened Shehan’s mother who then made a complaint to the Ja-Ela police the same night.

On the 7 June, 2011 the Officer-in-Charge of the Ja-Ela Police Station made a telephone call to Shehan’s mother asking her to come to the police station at 9 am the following day to inquire into her complaint. When she arrived at that time she was detained at the station until 7 pm. During this detention two persons whom she believed to be criminals arrived at the police station. On the instructions of the OIC of the station the OIC of the Petty Offenses Section recorded that her complaint had been brought to a settlement and forced the mother to sign it. Thereafter, the two other persons were sent away but Shehan’s mother was kept at the station until Shehan would be presented. After detaining her that night a case was filed against her in the Magistrate’s Court of Kanuwana for harbouring a criminal, meaning her son, Shehan.

Five days later Shehan’s Uncle Roshan who had earlier rescued his younger brother, was also charged at the same Magistrate’s Court for making death threats. The case is still pending before the court. Shehan believes that this charge was filed as an act of revenge against his uncle for intervening on his behalf. Thereafter, as the police were looking for Shehan he surrendered himself to court. Regarding this there is a case pending against him until now.

On 9 August, 2011 when Shehan was going to work a group of people came in a van with tinted windows and tried to kidnap him but he managed to escape and run away. Shehan complained about this matter through the Emergency Hotline of the Police Department, 119, and this is recorded in the CID ii at page 390/127. In that complaint the vehicle number is given as WPGX 9511. The Ja-Ela police did not conduct any investigation into this complaint. A further complaint was made at the Peliyagoda Police Station on 11 August, 2011. Regarding this complaint also there has been no investigation.

On 29 August at around 5:15 pm when he was walking to a bus to return home after work five persons who arrived in a LandCruiser that did not have a license plate attacked Shehan, striking him on his hands and legs with iron poles. As they were attacking him Shehan managed to run back into his workshop. From there he was taken in a vehicle belonging to the workshop to a nearby hospital and from there he was transferred to the Ragama Hospital. A complaint regarding this matter was made on the same day to the Seduwa Police Station and the incident was also reported to the OIC of the Ja-Ela Police Station. However, once again, no action was taken in this complaint also.

Due to a coordinated action of the OIC of Ja-Ela Police Station and a millionaire businessman, Shehan complains that his life is under threat. The OIC, according to Shehan, is working hand in glove with this businessman. Shehan believes that the owner of the LandCruiser that delivered the five persons who attacked him belongs to the same businessman. Shehan further complains that the OIC is protecting the criminals and is making fabricated charges against him and his relatives instead.

Shehan has informed the matter to human rights organisations and requested them to intervene in order to protect his life. Shehan further states that it he arrested by the Ja-Ela police he will certainly be torture at the instructions of the businessman.

I request your urgent intervention to ensure that the authorities listed below instigate an immediate investigation into the allegations of denial of investigation into the death threats and imminent threat of torture by the police, and the prosecution of those proven to be responsible under the criminal law of the country for misusing powers of state officers and for wrongful prosecution. The officers involved must also be subjected to internal investigations for the breach of the department orders as issued by the police department.

Yours sincerely,

PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTERS TO:

1. Mr. N K Illangakoon

Inspector General of Police

New Secretariat

Colombo 1

SRI LANKA

Fax: +94 11 2 440440 / 327877

E-mail: igp@police.lk

2. Mr. Mohan Peiris

Attorney General

Attorney General’s Department

Colombo 12

SRI LANKA

Fax: +94 11 2 436421

E-mail: ag@attorneygeneral.gov.lk

3. 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 or polcom@sltnet.lk

4. Secretary

Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission

No. 108

Barnes Place

Colombo 07

SRI LANKA

Tel: +9411 2694925, +9411 2685980, +9411 2685981

Fax: +9411 2694924 (General) +94112696470 (Chairman)

E-mail: sechrc@sltnet.lk

Thank you.

Urgent Appeals Programme

Asian Human Rights Commission (ua@ahrc.asia)

Document Type :

Urgent Appeal Case

Document ID :

AHRC-UAC-151-2011

Countries :

Sri Lanka

Issues :

Arbitrary arrest and detention, Impunity, Right to life, Rule of law, Threats and intimidation, Torture

Books

Hunger, Poverty & Climate Change in Madhya Pradesh: A Ground Reports

Extended Introduction: Urgent Appeals, theory and practice

A need for dialogue

Many people across Asia are frustrated by the widespread lack of respect for human rights in their countries. Some may be unhappy about the limitations on the freedom of expression or restrictions on privacy, while some are affected by police brutality and military killings. Many others are frustrated with the absence of rights on labour issues, the environment, gender and the like.

Yet the expression of this frustration tends to stay firmly in the private sphere. People complain among friends and family and within their social circles, but often on a low profile basis. This kind of public discourse is not usually an effective measure of the situation in a country because it is so hard to monitor.

Though the media may cover the issues in a broad manner they rarely broadcast the private fears and anxieties of the average person. And along with censorship – a common blight in Asia – there is also often a conscious attempt in the media to reflect a positive or at least sober mood at home, where expressions of domestic malcontent are discouraged as unfashionably unpatriotic. Talking about issues like torture is rarely encouraged in the public realm.

There may also be unwritten, possibly unconscious social taboos that stop the public reflection of private grievances. Where authoritarian control is tight, sophisticated strategies are put into play by equally sophisticated media practices to keep complaints out of the public space, sometimes very subtly. In other places an inner consensus is influenced by the privileged section of a society, which can control social expression of those less fortunate. Moral and ethical qualms can also be an obstacle.

In this way, causes for complaint go unaddressed, un-discussed and unresolved and oppression in its many forms, self perpetuates. For any action to arise out of private frustration, people need ways to get these issues into the public sphere.

Changing society

In the past bridging this gap was a formidable task; it relied on channels of public expression that required money and were therefore controlled by investors. Printing presses were expensive, which blocked the gate to expression to anyone without money. Except in times of revolution the media in Asia has tended to serve the well-off and sideline or misrepresent the poor.

Still, thanks to the IT revolution it is now possible to communicate with large audiences at little cost. In this situation there is a real avenue for taking issues from private to public, regardless of the class or caste of the individual.

Practical action

The AHRC Urgent Appeals system was created to give a voice to those affected by human rights violations, and by doing so, to create a network of support and open avenues for action. If X’s freedom of expression is denied, if Y is tortured by someone in power or if Z finds his or her labour rights abused, the incident can be swiftly and effectively broadcast and dealt with. The resulting solidarity can lead to action, resolution and change. And as more people understand their rights and follow suit, as the human rights consciousness grows, change happens faster. The Internet has become one of the human rights community’s most powerful tools.

At the core of the Urgent Appeals Program is the recording of human rights violations at a grass roots level with objectivity, sympathy and competence. Our information is firstly gathered on the ground, close to the victim of the violation, and is then broadcast by a team of advocates, who can apply decades of experience in the field and a working knowledge of the international human rights arena. The flow of information – due to domestic restrictions – often goes from the source and out to the international community via our program, which then builds a pressure for action that steadily makes its way back to the source through his or her own government. However these cases in bulk create a narrative – and this is most important aspect of our program. As noted by Sri Lankan human rights lawyer and director of the Asian Human Rights Commission, Basil Fernando:

"The urgent appeal introduces narrative as the driving force for social change. This idea was well expressed in the film Amistad, regarding the issue of slavery. The old man in the film, former president and lawyer, states that to resolve this historical problem it is very essential to know the narrative of the people. It was on this basis that a court case is conducted later. The AHRC establishes the narrative of human rights violations through the urgent appeals. If the narrative is right, the organisation will be doing all right."

Patterns start to emerge as violations are documented across the continent, allowing us to take a more authoritative, systemic response, and to pinpoint the systems within each country that are breaking down. This way we are able to discover and explain why and how violations take place, and how they can most effectively be addressed. On this path, larger audiences have opened up to us and become involved: international NGOs and think tanks, national human rights commissions and United Nations bodies. The program and its coordinators have become a well-used tool for the international media and for human rights education programs. All this helps pave the way for radical reforms to improve, protect and to promote human rights in the region.

Asian Human Rights Commission

Unit 701A, Westley Square

48 Hoi Yuen Road

Kwun Tong, KLN

Hong Kong, China

Tel: +(852) 2698 6339

Fax: +(852) 2698 6367