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Name: HG Gender: Male Age: 29 Date Detained: March 2011 Date Released: March 2011 Circumstances of detention: In March 2011, HG returned to Sri Lanka from the UK to help his brother’s wife trace his mother and brother who went missing in the last months of the Sri Lankan conflict in 2009. HG told Human Rights Watch his brother was an LTTE member who had surrendered to the SLA in May 2009 and was forcibly disappeared. Account: On arriving in Colombo, I lodged a complaint with the Sri Lankan Red Cross and the NHRC. One day in mid-March, I came out of St. Anthony’s Church in Kotahena [an area of Colombo] after my prayers. I was waiting to meet a friend. Suddenly, five or six men in civilian clothes appeared around me. They told me they were CID officials. They got hold of me and took me to Kotahena police station and detained me. The next day, I was blindfolded and taken to another place. The officials over there photographed me and took my fingerprints. I was kept in a small room. I was not given any food. From the second day, they started beating me. They asked me whether I was an LTTE member. They asked me why I came back to Sri Lanka. They said, “We know you. You are helping LTTE from London.” When I refused their charges, they started beating me. They kicked me with their boots, they beat me with metal pipes and plastic pipes filled with sand. They forced a petrol-infused plastic bag on my head and tried to asphyxiate me. The officials harassed me sexually. They groped my penis during questioning. I was raped twice by two different officials in my cell. They forced me to have oral sex with them too. They spoke little Tamil but it was mostly abusive. They said Tamils are dogs.” 118 HG’s medical records, including documents of his admission into a UK hospital for treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder, are on file with Human Rights Watch. HG was released from detention in late March after a Tamil politician assisted with bribing relevant authorities. HG has tried to take his life on one occasion and was under psychiatric care when Human Rights Watch interviewed him. 118 Human Rights Watch interview with HG, January 8, 2012. 67 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | FEBRUARY 2013
Name: IR Gender: Female Age: 29 Date Detained: February 2011 Date Released: March 2011 Circumstances of detention: IR arrived at Colombo international airport in February 2011. She told Human Rights Watch that soon after she collected her baggage, two officers from the TID approached her and asked her to show them her documents. Account: The officials picked up my bags and took me to a separate room at the airport. In a little while, another officer in civilian clothes came into the room and accused me of supporting the LTTE while abroad and spreading propaganda against the government. I denied this and told them I was a student and had come back to Sri Lanka as my mother was sick in hospital. They photographed me and took my details including my Vavuniya address. They told me they would check the information they had on me. In a while they returned and said that their information had been confirmed by the Vavuniya Police station. They said I was a member of the LTTE. They took me in a white van. After travelling an hour, they took me into a building where a lady bodysearched me. She took off my belt, shoes, and hair-clip, and pushed me into a room. After a few minutes two men came into the room. They asked me whether I had been helping the LTTE abroad. They also wanted to know who else was helping the LTTE in the foreign country. I told them that I knew nothing. They said I was lying. They grabbed my hair and smashed my head against the wall. I collapsed and fainted. The next day, they brought XX [name withheld], with whom I had worked in the LTTE, to my room. XX told me in front of them that they knew everything and asked me to confess to them. After XX left, they resumed beating me with wires and their boots. On the fourth or fifth day since I was detained, the interrogators again came into my room. They forced me to sign on a blank piece of paper and also took my fingerprints. Then one of the men said that they would kill me but before that they would use me. They tried to undress me. When I resisted, one kicked me to the ground, another tightly held my hands, while a third burned my body with a cigarette. When I regained consciousness, I was in terrible pain and also realized that I had been raped. 119 IR’s medical documents by her general practitioner, on file at Human Rights Watch, records “multiple cigarette burns and whip marks on her body.” The medical report notes her being subject to serious physical assault including rape. IR told Human Rights Watch she was released from custody after her family managed to bribe the authorities. She said that one night during her detention, an official asked her to sign a form written in Sinhala. The same official drove her out of the place she was detained to a deserted building where he locked her up in a room. IR was released the following day. 119 Human Rights Watch interview with IR, November 27, 2012. “WE WILL TEACH YOU A LESSON” 68
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H U M A N R I G H T S W A T C H “
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Copyright © 2013 Human Rights Watc
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Map of Sri Lanka
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Available information indicates tha
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sexual violence such as bites on th
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Not all detainees subjected to sexu
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surveillance of civil society group
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Methodology From November 2011 to O
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I. Background The 26-year-long arme
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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
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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
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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
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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
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Page 85 and 86: Name: PP Gender: Female Age: 29 Dat
Page 87 and 88: Name: LP Gender: Male Age: 20 Date
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Page 93 and 94: Name: YN Gender: Male Age: 46 Date
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Page 99 and 100: Name: CN Gender: Female Age: 32 Dat
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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
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Page 119 and 120: Name: RS Gender: Male Age: 27 Date
Page 121 and 122: Name: KN Gender: Female Age: 30 Dat
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MG’s medico-legal report, on file
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I could not endure the torture anym
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Name: TH Gender: Female Age: 28 Dat
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Name: DJ Gender: Female Age: 23 Dat
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Name: PR Gender: Male Age: 26 Date
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Name: MJ Gender: Female Age: 32 Dat
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They kicked me on my genitals and r
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Name: DH Gender: Female Age: 32 Dat
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Name: LV Gender: Female Age: 38 Dat
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Name: DV Gender: Female Age: 37 Dat
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Name: PT Gender: Male Age: 23 Date
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“We Will Teach You a Lesson” Se
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