- Sri Lanka justice system conducive to torturers
[TamilNet, April 10, 2003]
 ‘The
Sri Lankan criminal justice system is contributing to a climate of
impunity for police and security officials who commit torture’
observed the Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) in oral submission
Wednesday on 'Torture in Sri Lanka' at the 59th Session of the UN
Commission on Human Rights.
Citing an earlier research report on torture in Sri Lanka, the ALRC
said in its submission that due to defects in the criminal justice
system, people in Sri Lanka often regard torture as unavoidable.
Mr. Ali Saleem of ALRC made the oral intervention on behalf of his
organisation under the Agenda Item 11: Civil and Political Rights.
This intervention was made on the 09 April 2003. The full text of
statement follows:
“This February, Mr Michael Anthony Fernando submitted a
motion to the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka regarding a fundamental
rights violation case in which he is the applicant. The motion
requested that the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court not sit in
judgement on Mr Fernando's application, and offered ample
grounds for this request. The Chief Justice sat on the bench
that heard the motion. The bench then summarily sentenced Mr
Fernando to one year's rigorous imprisonment for contempt of
court. Mr Fernando was taken to prison, where he was severely
tortured.
Mr Fernando is one of an unknown number of persons who in recent
years have been tortured by police and security officials in Sri
Lanka. The Asian Legal Resource Centre has already raised its
concerns about this situation through reports to the Committee
against Torture and Special Rapporteur on torture, and
statements to sessions of the Commission (E/CN.4/2003/NGO/145).
Last August, the Centre released a special report entitled
'Torture committed by the police in Sri Lanka' (article 2, vol.
1, no. 4), detailing 22 case studies involving 38 victims of
torture, carried out as a part of routine police work. The
report reveals that due to defects in the criminal justice
system, people in Sri Lanka often regard torture as unavoidable.
However, there is a growing movement against this practice. In
Mr Fernando's case, due to enormous publicity stimulated by this
movement, two prison officers have been charged. In response,
prison officers across the country went on strike. Mr Fernando,
who remains in custody and is suffering enormous physical and
psychological damage, has good reason to believe that his life
is in danger.
Mr Fernando's case is illustrative of how the defective Sri
Lankan criminal justice system is contributing to a climate of
impunity for police and security officials who commit torture.
First, he was sentenced without receiving a fair trial.
Secondly, he was denied an appeal against the judgement.
Thirdly, he did not receive special protection while in custody,
even though he had submitted a case against senior state
officials. Fourthly, Sri Lankan law does not provide any avenue
to correct a miscarriage of justice: the word of the Supreme
Court is final.
To address all these problems, the Government of Sri Lanka is
obliged to make available legislative, administrative and
judicial remedies for victims of human rights abuse, as outlined
in article 2 of the ICCPR (International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights). In the meantime, the Asian Legal Resource
Centre urges the Government of Sri Lanka to intervene and save
the life of a man who put his faith, mistakenly, in the justice
system of his country. For in the words of the Special
Rapporteur on independence of judges and lawyers, "The Supreme
Court of Sri Lanka has done an act of injustice. A man who came
to seek justice was served with injustice."
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