Download the full report - Human Rights Watch

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Name: WP Gender: Male Age: 31 Date Detained: August 2009 Date Released: January 2010 Circumstances of detention: WP was from Puthukkudiyiruppu in northeastern Sri Lanka near the coast. He worked with the LTTE treating injured LTTE fighters in Poonakari until he surrendered to the Sri Lankan army in May 2009. He was taken to an IDP camp in Vavuniya where he provided voluntary first aid to injured civilians. Fearing his arrest by the CID for his previous association with the LTTE, WP’s aunt made arrangements to have him leave Sri Lanka for India. In August 2009, WP was stopped by TID agents at Colombo’s international airport. He was taken to a small room and questioned about his links with the LTTE. In his medical interview, WP said that the interrogators took hold of his hair and forcibly banged his chin several times on the table, splitting his chin open. They grabbed his right thumb and pulled it back causing it to dislocate. WP said that the following day he was taken to the fourth floor of the TID headquarters where he detained alone in a cell. He was told to strip naked and then he was shackled at the wrists and ankles and a broomstick was placed behind his knees. He was forced into a squatting position, his feet were lifted from the floor and he was turned around as “if on a spit.” In this position, he was beaten with cricket wicket stumps, mainly on the soles of his feet. On the second day of torture his interrogators pushed a piece of pipe into his anus. They then inserted a piece of barbed wire into the pipe and pulled out the pipe. The interrogators then ripped out the piece of barbed wire from his anus causing him to pass out unconscious with pain. Afterwards, WP was detained naked in a 5 foot by 3 foot cell. He was not provided any bedding. He told his medical specialist that he could hear the sounds of others being tortured and that he was hidden by TID officers during a visit by representatives from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). WP was held in the TID detention center for eight days in August 2009. Following this, he was moved to Boosa Camp where he shared a hall with such a large group of people that they could not all lie down on the floor at night. After three months in the detention center at Boosa, WP was transferred to a remand prison in Colombo where he stayed until his aunt bribed authorities to secure his release in January 2010. 143 143 Medical personnel interview with WP, February 9, 2012, contained in a medico legal report prepared for the UK courts in support of an asylum claim. 93 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | FEBRUARY 2013
Name: GW Gender: Female Age: 40 Date Detained: July 2009 Date Released: Cannot recall Circumstances of detention: In July 2009, GW was outside a camp in Vavuniya enquiring about six members of her family who had been reported killed in the fighting. GW told Human Rights Watch that she had been outside the country with relatives since April 2009 and returned to Sri Lanka only in early July 2009. She says she was captured by soldiers who took her into custody. Account: It was midday and I was standing at the gate of the camp. Four or five army officers came towards me. They asked me my name and then pushed me into a military jeep and took me to Nelukkulam camp [in Vavuniya] where I was taken into a small, dark room. I was detained for nearly one-and-a-half months. The officials questioned me and tortured me almost every day. The torture stopped only after I confessed. During the torture, I was beaten with metal pipes and burned with cigarettes. The officials inserted pins under my toe nail and it came off. I was kept naked during the torture. I was raped at night. Most of the female detainees were raped. In my case, sometimes one, sometimes two people came to my room and raped me. I have lost consciousness of how many times I was raped. They bit me and scratched me on my breasts and thighs when they raped me. I have marks all over my body. 144 GW’s medico legal report, on file with Human Rights Watch, confirms the scars on her body. GW told Human Rights Watch that in order to avoid being raped further, she did not clean herself as she wanted to make herself as unattractive as possible. However, this was not a deterrent as the officials continued to rape her until she signed the confession sheets. GW said she was released from detention after her relatives bribed officials. At the time we spoke with her, she was under psychiatric care. 144 Human Rights Watch interview with GW, January 11, 2012. “WE WILL TEACH YOU A LESSON” 94
Page 1 and 2:
H U M A N R I G H T S W A T C H “
Page 3 and 4:
Copyright © 2013 Human Rights Watc
Page 6:
Map of Sri Lanka
Page 9 and 10:
Available information indicates tha
Page 11 and 12:
sexual violence such as bites on th
Page 13 and 14:
Not all detainees subjected to sexu
Page 15 and 16:
surveillance of civil society group
Page 17 and 18:
Methodology From November 2011 to O
Page 19 and 20:
I. Background The 26-year-long arme
Page 21 and 22:
The Sri Lankan government declared
Page 23 and 24:
Senior government officials initial
Page 25 and 26:
From 1990 to 2002, Sri Lankan civil
Page 27 and 28:
of women and girls. In its response
Page 29 and 30:
ongoing military control over admin
Page 31 and 32:
damages. 43 The UN has reaffirmed t
Page 33 and 34:
Aside from their direct criminal re
Page 35 and 36:
Rights Watch and other organization
Page 37 and 38:
Criminal Investigation Department (
Page 39 and 40:
For instance, GD, a 31-year-old wom
Page 41 and 42:
Human Rights Watch that he and othe
Page 43 and 44:
international airport, and taken to
Page 45 and 46:
Violations: Denial of Basic Due Pro
Page 47 and 48:
on this aspect of torture. “Victi
Page 49 and 50: IV. Domestic Response Post-War Barr
Page 51 and 52: LTTE conspiracy to defame and demon
Page 53 and 54: It is possible to identify specific
Page 55 and 56: • Establish, maintain, and public
Page 57 and 58: Appendix: Cases of Rape and Other S
Page 59 and 60: Name: KM Gender: Male Age: 22 Date
Page 61 and 62: Name: DK Gender: Male Age: 21 Date
Page 63 and 64: Name: VV Gender: Male Age: 29 Date
Page 65 and 66: Name: BL Gender: Male Age: 28 Date
Page 67 and 68: Name: KP Gender: Male Age: 31 Date
Page 69 and 70: They left me naked with my hands ti
Page 71 and 72: Name: MB Gender: Male Age: 27 Date
Page 73 and 74: Name: JV Gender: Male Age: 28 Date
Page 75 and 76: Name: IR Gender: Female Age: 29 Dat
Page 77 and 78: Name: KI Gender: Female Age: 29 Dat
Page 79 and 80: Name: YS Gender: Female Age: 27 Dat
Page 81 and 82: Name: FJ Gender: Male Age: 20 Date
Page 83 and 84: Name: DB Gender: Male Age: 19 Date
Page 85 and 86: Name: PP Gender: Female Age: 29 Dat
Page 87 and 88: Name: LP Gender: Male Age: 20 Date
Page 89 and 90: Name: RC Gender: Female Age: 30 Dat
Page 91 and 92: Name: MT Gender: Female Age: 30 Dat
Page 93 and 94: Name: YN Gender: Male Age: 46 Date
Page 95 and 96: Name: DS Gender: Male Age: 17 Date
Page 97 and 98: Name: HB Gender: Male Age: 22 Date
Page 99: Name: CN Gender: Female Age: 32 Dat
Page 103 and 104: Name: VM Gender: Female Age: 26 Dat
Page 105 and 106: Name: MH Gender: Female Age: 35 Dat
Page 107 and 108: Name: VB Gender: Female Age: 28 Dat
Page 109 and 110: Name: PV Gender: Female Age: 26 Dat
Page 111 and 112: Name: EN Gender: Female Age: 28 Dat
Page 113 and 114: Name: ST Gender: Female Age: 50 Dat
Page 115 and 116: Name: OP Gender: Male Age: 20 Date
Page 117 and 118: Name: YT Gender: Female Age: 22 Dat
Page 119 and 120: Name: RS Gender: Male Age: 27 Date
Page 121 and 122: Name: KN Gender: Female Age: 30 Dat
Page 123 and 124: Name: JM Gender: Female Age: 31 Dat
Page 125 and 126: MG’s medico-legal report, on file
Page 127 and 128: I could not endure the torture anym
Page 129 and 130: Name: TH Gender: Female Age: 28 Dat
Page 131 and 132: Name: DJ Gender: Female Age: 23 Dat
Page 133 and 134: Name: PR Gender: Male Age: 26 Date
Page 135 and 136: Name: MJ Gender: Female Age: 32 Dat
Page 137 and 138: They kicked me on my genitals and r
Page 139 and 140: Name: DH Gender: Female Age: 32 Dat
Page 141 and 142: Name: LV Gender: Female Age: 38 Dat
Page 143 and 144: Name: DV Gender: Female Age: 37 Dat
Page 145 and 146: Name: PT Gender: Male Age: 23 Date
Page 147: “We Will Teach You a Lesson” Se
show all

Download the full report - Human Rights Watch

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?