Mahinda Rajapaksa had helped Douglas Peiris in Geneva

Tuesday, 24 July 2012 

Former SSP Douglas Peiris who was well known for his terror tactics during the 1988-89 period has told a weekly newspaper that the two politicians who helped during the difficult times are President Mahinda Rajapaksa and Minister S.B. Dissanayake.

The Attorney General has filed several cases against Peiris for allegedly committing murder, the disappearances of several persons and using forged travel documents.

Once Peiris was indicted before the Colombo High Court, his services were suspended under the police department regulations in order to enable the legal proceedings. Therefore, permission has also not been granted for him to retire.

Douglas Peiris has said that he had known the President since 1977. “He spoke to me over the telephone in 1999. He asked about my problems. I said that Chandrika’s government was not letting me retire. The President even helped me retire. Minister S.B. Dissanayake gave me several lakhs to use as legal expenditure,” he has said.

The police department had initiated disciplinary action against Peiris since he was accused of torturing and killing youths arrested during the terror period, sexually abusing and raping young girls who were arrested and forcing wives to have sexual relations with him in order to release their husbands from his custody. The Attorney General served indictment against Peiris before the High Court over murder charges.

A senior police officer told us that the President who at the time appeared to stand to safeguard the human rights of youths who were victimized during the 1988-89 terror period on the other hand had helped those who terrorized society at the time.