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  INDICTMENT AGAINST SRI LANKA
The Charge is Ethnic Cleansing
TORTURE - 'ALMOST UNIVERSAL PRACTISE'
OF SRI LANKAN AUTHORITIES
"No one shall be subjected to torture
or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or
punishment" - Article 5, Universal Declaration of Human
Rights
[see also Torture of Eelam Tamils: the Record
Speaks.... ]
 "...From informal
records held in Jaffna, the author has discovered that at
least 23 members of the Tamil community have died in, or
as a result of being in army or police custody since July
1979. In addition four persons have 'disappeared' whilst
in such custody and must be presumed to dead... the
former detainees detailed to the author systematic
inhumane and violent treatment at the hands of those who
were detaining them over long periods of time...
Several instances were reported to the author of persons
being hung upside down with a bag covering their head
into which was introduced fine ground dried chilli
powder. Evidence of the effect of this on the metabolism
of the lungs was read by the author in the inquest
depositions..."
...the author accepts that it is the almost
universal practice of the military authorities to
physically assault and mistreat those persons who have
been in their custody with the principal locations
for that assault being the Elephant Pass army camp and
the Panagoda army camp in Colombo...
...the author finds that this treatment is not only in
breach of Article 11 of the Sri Lankan Constitution which
states that 'no person shall be subject to torture or to
cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment' but
(that it) is also carried out on a systematic basis. This
treatment is also in breach of the International Covenant
on Civil and Political Rights to which Sri Lanka is a
State Party after having ratified the Covenant.
Unfortunately, Sri Lanka has not ratified the Optional
Protocol to permit individuals, other than other States
Party to the Covenant, to complain and proceed against
Sri Lanka for breaches of the Covenant." - Ethnic and
Communal Violence: The Independence of the Judiciary:
Protection of Fundamental Rights and the Rule of Law in
Sri Lanka - Fragile Freedoms? - Report
of an ICJ Mission to Sri Lanka in June 1983 - Timothy
J.Moore
"...The testimonies taken by the Amnesty
International mission (in January and February 1982),
confirm other reports received by the organisation that
torture was regularly inflicted in 1981 and at least up
until the time of the mission..." - Sri Lanka:
Current Human Rights Concerns and Evidence of Extra
Judicial Killings - Amnesty International Report, 1
June 1984
"Allegations that torture occurs in Sri
Lanka have long been of concern to AI. Over the past five
years, however, the organisation has received consistent
reports, many in the form of sworn affidavits, which lead
it to conclude that the practise is wide spread and
persistent. Torture is used particularly against
political detainees, some of whom have died as a
result...
When the present government took office in 1977,
it prohibited torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading
treatment, under the Constitution. It has also denied
that torture is permitted...However torture has been
widely reported from a variety of sources.
AI has receivedtestimonies from former detainees,
detailing torture and from witnesses to tortures from
others; from relatives of victims and from lawyers. In
addition the findings of several medical examinations of
former detainees are consistent with the tortures
alleged...In all cases of torture and ill treatment
reported to AI, detainees were held incommunicado...
Relatives have difficulty in establishing the whereabouts
of detainees and in recent months over 180 are reported
to have 'disappeared', the authorities denying any
knowledge of their detention." - Amnesty International
File on Torture, October 1985
"Detainees
often have been held in army camps, incommunicado,
without access to lawyers and relatives, and in some
cases have been tortured and even killed whilst in
custody...(In one case) it was found, at a post mortem
examination, that the detainee had suffered twenty five
external and ten internal injuries which had been
inflicted on him by force. This was the case of
Mr.A.K.Navaratnarajah (a Tamil) who died on the 10th of
April 1983 whilst held in custody. At the time of my
visit in February 1985, no one had been charged with
Mr.Navaratnarajah's murder...
Government explanations that it is impossible to find
reliable evidence to identify those responsible for such
killings cannot be accepted in the absence of a clear
indication of a serious public and impartial attempt to
investigate such events." - Patricia Hyndman -
Democracy in Peril, Report to Lawasia Human Rights
Committee, June 1985
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