Torture chamber
THE Batalanda Commission in its report submitted to the Sri Lankan President on 27 March confirms that an illegal torture centre was maintained by police officers at the Batalanda Housing Scheme during the height of the People’s Liberation Front (JVP) insurrection between 1988 and 1990. A number of JVP suspects suffered torture in the centre, including prominent human rights lawyer Wijedasa Liyanarachchi who died as a result in September 1988. The police Counter Subversive Unit (CSU) headed by Douglas Peiris was directly responsible for the torture, the report says, and former Prime Minister and opposition United National Party (UNP) leader Ranil Wickremasinghe, in whose electorate the torture chamber was located, knew of its existence. UNP supporters have accused the government of appointing the Commission for the purpose of implicating Mr Wickremasinghe and gaining political advantage. The Commission has observed that the police had failed to comply with the law and shown servile obedience to politicians for personal gain. It has urged the government to compensate victims and institute legal action against those identified as responsible for torture at the Batalanda Housing Scheme.
On 23 April, Amnesty International called on the government to make public and disseminate widely the findings of the Bandula Kulatunge committee which probed disappearances in Jaffna. Over 700 people disappeared in Jaffna after the Army capture of the peninsula in early 1996. Amnesty also urged the government to make public its plans for follow-up action on the recommendations of the committee. In 25 cases, the committee has identified those responsible for the disappearances.
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