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Name: SV Gender: Male Age: 29 Date Detained: December 10, 2010 Date Released: January 8, 2011 Circumstances of detention: On December 10, 2010, SV, a poet and writer from Vavuniya, was deported from Dubai to Sri Lanka, having exhausted his asylum claims in France. SV told Human Rights Watch he was detained on arrival at the airport. Account: The officials introduced themselves as CID and told me they had to take me for questioning. I was taken to the fourth floor of CID headquarters in Colombo. I did not know where I was being taken at the time. I was photographed once we reached the CID headquarters and then pushed up the stairs to a small dark room. The officials kept hitting me on the head as they pushed me up the stairs. I was kept in detention for more than a month. During this time, I was questioned and beaten up every day. They asked me about my activities with the LTTE in France, they brought pictures of my participating in anti-war protests in France and accused me of betraying the government. They asked me for the names of others who had organized the protests in France. I was locked in a dark room and my hands were tied in the position of a crucifix. They then burned me all over my arms. I was beaten with hot metal rods on my back and thighs. I was sometimes poked with the end of a hot poker and they kicked my head with metal-toed boots. I was raped many times. Two men would come to my room and one would hold me down. They would take turns. 124 SV’s medico legal report, on file with Human Rights Watch, notes the scars on his back and the back of his thighs are considered “highly consistent with his account of torture.” The medico legal report also notes that he meets the criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder and major depressive disorder. SV told Human Rights Watch that during his detention he was taken out to identify various people and inform the security forces about their involvement with the LTTE. He was released from detention on January 8, 2011, after his aunt bribed CID and military personnel using the services of a member of the Eelam People’s Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF), a Tamil political party. SV arrived in the UK on January 20, 2011, and sought asylum. 124 Human Rights Watch interview with SV, London, February 4, 2012. 73 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | FEBRUARY 2013
Name: FJ Gender: Male Age: 20 Date Detained: June 2010 Date Released: September 2010 Circumstances of detention: One day in late June 2010 at about 2 o’clock in the afternoon, FJ was waiting for a decision on his visa application to the United Kingdom at a tea stall near the UK High Commission in Colombo. A light colored van stopped beside the tea stall where FJ was having soda. Account: There were five or six people in the van. They pushed me into the van, handcuffed me, and took me to an unknown destination. We drove for approximately 30 minutes. When the van stopped, they pushed me out of the van and into a room in an abandoned building. The room was very dark and smelled of dust. They locked me in the room and left me overnight. The next morning the torture began. I was beaten and kicked with boots, hung upside down, and beaten. I was made to inhale fumes from chilies that were burned in a container under my face. I was burned with cigarettes all over my pubic area. I was beaten with hot metal rods. The officials who interrogated me stamped on my private parts with their boots. They twisted and crushed my buttocks with pliers. I was kept in this location for two weeks during which I was beaten and tortured every day. There was no toilet so I had to defecate in the room. They would beat me for this but would not take me to a toilet. A piece of bread or a food packet would be thrown into my room once and sometimes twice a day. I could not bear the pain of my torture and signed some documents in Sinhala. The officials took my fingerprints and photographs. After two weeks in this location, I was blindfolded and transferred to another location. I was taken naked to the second location and my hands were tied. The second room was also dirty and smelly. There were three other Tamil men detained in the same room. I was raped 4 or 5 times during this detention. The rapes always happened at night. Sometimes it was the prison guards and at other times, they were officials in civilian clothes. During the rape, they beat me and also burned me with cigarettes. They used abusive, Tamil slang words. If I didn’t cooperate with them [with oral sex], they would slap me across the face. 125 FJ’s medico legal report, on file with Human Rights Watch, notes that the scars on his body “are consistent with the manner of injuries he describes having suffered.” In particular, the report states that the scars on his sacral area, said to be caused by being pinched with pliers are “consistent with this mechanism of injury.” FJ told Human Rights Watch his uncle paid for his release from detention in September 2010. 125 Human Rights Watch interview with FJ, December 28, 2011. “WE WILL TEACH YOU A LESSON” 74
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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
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Senior government officials initial
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From 1990 to 2002, Sri Lankan civil
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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
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Page 39 and 40: For instance, GD, a 31-year-old wom
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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
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Page 59 and 60: Name: KM Gender: Male Age: 22 Date
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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 121 and 122: Name: KN Gender: Female Age: 30 Dat
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Page 125 and 126: MG’s medico-legal report, on file
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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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