SRI LANKA: Mundalama Police enjoy impunity despite torturing and detaining a businessman in fabricated charges

June 22, 2012

ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION-URGENT APPEAL PROGRAMME

Urgent Appeal Case: AHRC-UAC-108-2012

Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that Mr. K. A. Somarathna, a businessman, filed a complaint with the Senior Superintendent of Police, (SSP) when a water pump and other goods were stolen from his business construction site by a number of police officers attached to the Mundalama Police Station. Two days after he filed the complaint, he was called to the Mundalama Police Station. When he went to the station, he was taken to the back of the building and beaten severely by the OIC and another officer, Priyantha. Mr. Somarathna fell unconscious as the result of this beating and when he awoke, he found himself in a jail cell. His family was not permitted to visit him and the officers threatened the family with Mr. Somarathna’s abduction if they chose to pursue the complaint with the SSP. He was produced before the Additional Magistrate of Puttalam on a false criminal charge, and despite voicing his complaint of torture to the Magistrate, he was sent to remand prison. Mr. Somarathna has checked himself in to numerous hospitals for treatment, but he remains in great pain and is unable to take care of himself without assistance. Although he has filed a complaint with the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka and the SSP, a credible investigation has yet to be initiated. This case is yet another illustration of the exceptional collapse of the rule of law in the country.

CASE NARRATIVE:       Read More...