The International Day in Support of Victims of Torture is recognized annually on June 26, devoted to the promotion of a torture-free world. It is also a day when achievements to eliminate torture are evaluated. In the case of Sri Lanka, the practice of torture has increased rather than being reduced.
Some might argue that the increase was due to the intensification of the conflict between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and the government, therefore the end of the conflict should now result in the reduction of torture. However, such a belief is naïve. Most torture practiced in Sri Lanka was not directly related to the conflict. The main cause has been the country’s appalling policing system.
Torture was and is practiced in areas outside the conflict zones, in the safer zones of the south. Rather than easing the situation, the end of the conflict has given rise to greater authoritarianism – where freedom is equated with treachery.
To reduce torture, complaints of torture must be investigated. However, it is a long-established practice that investigations are deliberately sabotaged. The main saboteurs are the police and the Attorney General’s Department, which plays the role of prosecutor.
One case that became famous in the 1990s illustrates this. Richard de Soysa – a well-known film actor, author and journalist and a popular socialite – was abducted from his house, and several days later his body was found washed up on a beach. It is speculated that after he was arrested and tortured, his body was dumped from a helicopter into the sea in the hope that it would never be recovered.
The news of the killing was one of the most shocking events that influenced politics at the time. Local and international media coverage was extensive and fingers were pointed at the security forces, which were at the time engaged in wiping out the insurgency by the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna, or People’s Liberation Front, a southern rebel group. A government commission that inquired into the disappearances found over 30,000 forced disappearances.
Despite enormous pressure, the government of the day persisted in covering up de Soysa’s murder. On the first anniversary of his death, the Liberal Party – which no longer exists – took up de Soysa’s case. A whole volume of the Liberal Review was devoted to his assassination.
That volume included a long letter written by the party to the government, analyzing the manner in which the inquiry had been sabotaged. The letter blamed the police and the Attorney General’s Department for failing to investigate.
The Liberal Party called for a commission to inquire into the murder. The reasons it gave are revealing: “There is a significant possibility of the complicity of elements of the police in this crime and the apparent unwillingness of the Attorney General and his department to act impartially in this case, which prompts us to suggest the appointment of a commission of inquiry.”
The Liberal Party’s letter was written in February 1991. From then until now, nothing has happened to improve confidence in either the police or the Attorney General’s Department with regard to independent and impartial inquiries into human rights abuses, which include the widespread practice of torture.
As the Liberal Party pointed out then, the complicity of the police and the Attorney General’s Department in preventing proper inquiries into such serious crimes remains the greatest obstacle to the administration of justice.
Since 1991, not only have the police and the Attorney General’s Department remained complicit in sabotaging justice, but so have various commissions appointed by several governments. There is no reliable agency to competently investigate serious crimes and human rights abuses.
Today, the position of the police is much worse than it was in the late 1990s. That is acknowledged by everyone, including high-ranking police officers that have made public statements expressing bewilderment about the situation.
In current times, even a person accused of murder can continue to work as a police officer. Suresh Gunaratne, a police sub-inspector accused in the murder of torture victim Gerard Perera, continues to work as an investigator at the Gampaha Police Station. Many others accused of serious crimes are not even subjected to investigation. One of the known pastimes at many police stations is to intimidate witnesses who make complaints against police officers.
Politicians find this kind of policing system useful, as it is easy to attack political opponents when the patronage of the police is assured. The police seek political patronage and politicians seek police patronage.
What is more shocking is the way the Attorney General’s Department has undermined its role regarding the prevention of torture. There were some positive developments in the early part of this century when a large number of torture indictments were filed against police officers by the department.
From around 2006, this policy changed significantly. Filing such indictments was discouraged; many cases were not filed at all, and in others, police filed charges not under the Torture Act but under the penal code for trivial offenses such as simple hurt. Even in cases where fundamental errors were made in the facts and application of the law, the Attorney General’s Department has refused to file appeals or revisions despite requests on behalf of aggrieved victims. The tacit policy today is not to eliminate torture but to protect persons who perpetrate it.
The Supreme Court of Sri Lanka, even in very recent cases, has pointed out the negligence of authorities in enforcing discipline within the police force and in taking meaningful action for the protection of the people.
Despite the end of the civil conflict there is little hope of improvement in the criminal justice system in Sri Lanka; the government shows no political will in this regard. If the government had the political will, the Sri Lankan police could be reformed within a short time. What is needed is the proper exercise of command responsibility.
This is also the situation of the Attorney General’s Department. It is true that these departments need resources to improve personnel and other materials. The allocation of funds for justice could bring far greater stability to the country than the allocation of funds to the military. However, in all likelihood, while funds to the military will increase there will be no significant improvement in the allocation of funds for institutions that deal with the administration of justice.
In all likelihood Sri Lanka will remain a land of torture in the coming year.
Source: Sri Lanka authorities complicit in torture
Filed under: abductions, civil society, civil war, extrajudicial killings, human rights, IDPs, justice, media, police, politics, rule of law, Sri Lanka, torture, violations
