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Name: GW<br />
Gender: Female<br />
Age: 40<br />
Date Detained: July 2009<br />
Date Released: Cannot recall<br />
Circumstances of detention: In July 2009, GW was outside a camp in Vavuniya enquiring about<br />
six members of her family who had been <strong>report</strong>ed killed in <strong>the</strong> fighting. GW told <strong>Human</strong> <strong>Rights</strong><br />
<strong>Watch</strong> that she had been outside <strong>the</strong> country with relatives since April 2009 and returned to Sri<br />
Lanka only in early July 2009. She says she was captured by soldiers who took her into custody.<br />
Account:<br />
It was midday and I was standing at <strong>the</strong> gate of <strong>the</strong> camp. Four or five army officers came towards<br />
me. They asked me my name and <strong>the</strong>n pushed me into a military jeep and took me to Nelukkulam<br />
camp [in Vavuniya] where I was taken into a small, dark room.<br />
I was detained for nearly one-and-a-half months. The officials questioned me and tortured me<br />
almost every day. The torture stopped only after I confessed. During <strong>the</strong> torture, I was beaten with<br />
metal pipes and burned with cigarettes. The officials inserted pins under my toe nail and it came<br />
off. I was kept naked during <strong>the</strong> torture. I was raped at night. Most of <strong>the</strong> female detainees were<br />
raped. In my case, sometimes one, sometimes two people came to my room and raped me. I have<br />
lost consciousness of how many times I was raped. They bit me and scratched me on my breasts<br />
and thighs when <strong>the</strong>y raped me. I have marks all over my body. 144<br />
GW’s medico legal <strong>report</strong>, on file with <strong>Human</strong> <strong>Rights</strong> <strong>Watch</strong>, confirms <strong>the</strong> scars on her body.<br />
GW told <strong>Human</strong> <strong>Rights</strong> <strong>Watch</strong> that in order to avoid being raped fur<strong>the</strong>r, she did not clean herself as<br />
she wanted to make herself as unattractive as possible. However, this was not a deterrent as <strong>the</strong><br />
officials continued to rape her until she signed <strong>the</strong> confession sheets. GW said she was released<br />
from detention after her relatives bribed officials. At <strong>the</strong> time we spoke with her, she was under<br />
psychiatric care.<br />
144<br />
<strong>Human</strong> <strong>Rights</strong> <strong>Watch</strong> interview with GW, January 11, 2012.<br />
“WE WILL TEACH YOU A LESSON” 94