State Violence in Sri Lanka - World Organisation Against Torture

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State Violence in SRI LANKA
many occasions that they would stop this process and that the police force
would be brought within an internal command system (“No more political
interference with police transfers, NPC Chief,” by Jayampathy Jayasinghe,
Daily News, 31 March 2003). This objective needs to be achieved if the obligations
under the ICCPR are to be respected and observed by the state parties.
c. Loss of competence in criminal investigations resulting in fabrication of
cases against innocent persons as a substitute to the real culprits: A study
done by ALRC (article 2, Volume 1, Number 4, August 2002) on custodial
deaths and torture occurring at police stations in recent years clearly establishes
a pattern whereby innocent persons are accused of serious crimes instead of
actual criminals simply because the police are unable to find the real culprits.
Often when many uninvestigated crimes pile up at a police station, innocent
persons are arrested and forced to confess to crimes that they know nothing
about. Unresolved crimes often lead to strong public protest. When charges
are filed against someone, anyone, the crime is considered to be resolved and
police officers may even be promoted as a result.
• In the well-known case of a murder of a 76-old Catholic priest named Fr.
Aba Costa 10 May 2001, Kurukulasuriya Pradeep Niranjan (30) and
another male named Gamini were arrested by the police within 3 days of
the murder and allegedly severely assaulted. Thereafter, they were charged
with the murder of Fr. Aba Costa and kept in remand for a long time.
After almost two years the Attorney General withdrew the charges against
the accused on 21 February 2003 as the actual criminals had allegedly
been found. It later turned out that some senior police officers of the area
were actually involved in the crime. (Television reports in the program
called “Thumbprints,” broadcasted by Rupavahini (national television station
in Sri Lanka).
• Waragodamudalige Gerald Mervyn Perera (39) (Supreme Court fundamental
rights application SCFR 328/2002) was arrested and tortured on 3
June 2002 by officers from the Wattala Police Station for supposedly being
involved in a triple homicide case. The Supreme Court later ruled that it
was a case of mistaken identity.
• Mulakandage Lasantha Jagath Kumara (23) (Supreme Court fundamental
rights application SCFR 471/2000) was tortured from 12-17 June 2000
by officers from the Payagala Police Station. The victim later died on 20
June 2000 from the injuries suffered at the police station. The Supreme