Stop-Torture-Report
Stop-Torture-Report Stop-Torture-Report
“They brought in a person with a mask on. His face was completely covered with a long piece of cloth with gaps for eyes. I was brought in front of him and they asked him whether he knew me from the LTTE and he nodded his head.” (Witness 5) Multiple witnesses report seeing their former comrades working as informers at the passport office in Colombo and at the airport from 2009 onwards. One such informer is the Jaffna Sports organiser of the LTTE, known as Papa, who was last seen at the airport in 2013 by a witness who was as a result abducted, tortured and sexually abused: “I have come to learn that after the war Papa began working for the security forces. I came to hear about that by reading it in the news. It is also common knowledge amongst the Northern Tamils. It is seen by me as a big betrayal especially after he convinced so many young people to join who then gave their lives for freedom and then for money he works with the security forces, those that harmed us, to identify cadres.” (Witness 36) What has particularly upset witnesses is that Papa had recruited some of them in the first place for the LTTE and in the final months of the war he was heavily involved in forced and child recruitment in the Vanni, before he switched sides. “At Colombo airport I landed and was walking to the immigration counter from the gate. A man called out my LTTE name "XXXX". I turned around to see who was calling my name. It was Papa, the Sports Leader of the LTTE. Our eyes met for a few seconds. Before, when I was in Kilinochchi, our paths crossed. We were in different units. We knew each other. “ (Witness 26) Several of the witnesses we interviewed have been asked to identify other former cadres, either from photographs or in person. There is a huge degree of guilt and shame in admitting exactly how far they went in cooperating with 106
these orders. Several have given tragic accounts of randomly betraying completely innocent people to avert further torture, such as this man: “There were four different occasions when they tried to make me identify people as members of the LTTE. They would take me out of the camp in an army vehicle to a residential place, a village for example, and point someone out and ask if I used to work with them in the LTTE. They would hood me to take me there, take the hood off and they would point at someone and I had to nod if I knew them. My hands were tied behind my back. The first time I said I didn't recognise anyone, but they beat and kicked me hard so after that I said I did recognise people because I knew I would be beaten if I said no. This happened 4 or 5 times in total.” (Witness 41) Forced to inform on others – whether the suspects had some connection to the LTTE or not – informers have to live with the terrible burden that they caused others intense suffering – and in some cases it did not stop the rapes the witness was being subjected to. In one such case the witness stated: “I ended up pointing out some people as former cadres. I did not know if those persons were or were not former cadres. I would point them out and the army would take them into custody. I later heard them in the army camp screaming. I knew that they were being tortured and likely sexually abused. I feel very bad about that. I feel ashamed and am full of guilt for their suffering. The pain I caused to those 10 -15 people I pointed out still troubles my peace and my sleep. Despite my pointing out suspects to the army they continued to sexually abuse me.” (Witness 103) Sexual violence and torture – or the threat of them - are used to coerce former LTTE cadres to turn informer. The videoing of rape has also been used to coerce victims into becoming informers rather than have the video released in public to expose them: 107
- Page 55 and 56: 8 17 47 9 2 Jaffna 14 3 1 Elephant
- Page 57 and 58: Note on Iniya Bharathi’s office i
- Page 59 and 60: “An army officer came to my tent
- Page 61 and 62: Key to Map of Joseph Camp 1 Male In
- Page 63 and 64: Joseph Camp Organisation Joseph Cam
- Page 65 and 66: Sexual Torture Of the 14 witnesses
- Page 67 and 68: In addition, ITJP is in possession
- Page 69 and 70: A female witness saw the Major when
- Page 71 and 72: “I witnessed the security forces
- Page 73 and 74: (Witness 42) Some witness were deta
- Page 75 and 76: a vehicle and let her go on the roa
- Page 77 and 78: Case Study 3: Secret Torture Site:
- Page 79 and 80: including to the navy who denied an
- Page 81 and 82: Two recent media reports refer to a
- Page 83 and 84: At the Embassies in some overseas c
- Page 85 and 86: “There were reports that authorit
- Page 87 and 88: However, in the majority of cases w
- Page 89 and 90: 2009 to document and keep tabs on a
- Page 91 and 92: Many witnesses told us that the sec
- Page 93 and 94: “In every letter my mum has menti
- Page 95 and 96: to attend the opening ceremony. The
- Page 97 and 98: as a result of the PM's visit, neit
- Page 99 and 100: stop. The petrol bag was repeated t
- Page 101 and 102: close members of her family abducte
- Page 103 and 104: The Extensive Use of Informers Many
- Page 105: the Tamil collaborators they encoun
- Page 109 and 110: Persecution of Family Members One o
- Page 111 and 112: “Around 4 people on a motorbike c
- Page 113 and 114: “Military intelligence has come t
- Page 115 and 116: much she had to be taken to hospita
- Page 117 and 118: (Witness 91, speaking in 2015) Ther
- Page 119 and 120: “Since I left Sri Lanka the CID a
- Page 121 and 122: This pattern, as set out in detail
- Page 123 and 124: with command responsibility as well
- Page 125 and 126: Given these past experiences, UN ag
- Page 127 and 128: - Interpreters of an internationall
- Page 129 and 130: VI. Recommendations Call to UN Secr
- Page 131 and 132: The European Union: Subject to witn
- Page 133 and 134: “In Sri Lanka there is a mytholog
these orders. Several have given tragic accounts of randomly betraying<br />
completely innocent people to avert further torture, such as this man:<br />
“There were four different occasions when they tried to make me identify<br />
people as members of the LTTE. They would take me out of the camp in an<br />
army vehicle to a residential place, a village for example, and point someone<br />
out and ask if I used to work with them in the LTTE. They would hood me to<br />
take me there, take the hood off and they would point at someone and I had to<br />
nod if I knew them. My hands were tied behind my back. The first time I said I<br />
didn't recognise anyone, but they beat and kicked me hard so after that I said I<br />
did recognise people because I knew I would be beaten if I said no. This<br />
happened 4 or 5 times in total.”<br />
(Witness 41)<br />
Forced to inform on others – whether the suspects had some connection to the<br />
LTTE or not – informers have to live with the terrible burden that they caused<br />
others intense suffering – and in some cases it did not stop the rapes the<br />
witness was being subjected to. In one such case the witness stated:<br />
“I ended up pointing out some people as former cadres. I did not know if those<br />
persons were or were not former cadres. I would point them out and the army<br />
would take them into custody. I later heard them in the army camp screaming.<br />
I knew that they were being tortured and likely sexually abused. I feel very bad<br />
about that. I feel ashamed and am full of guilt for their suffering. The pain I<br />
caused to those 10 -15 people I pointed out still troubles my peace and my<br />
sleep. Despite my pointing out suspects to the army they continued to sexually<br />
abuse me.”<br />
(Witness 103)<br />
Sexual violence and torture – or the threat of them - are used to coerce former<br />
LTTE cadres to turn informer. The videoing of rape has also been used to coerce<br />
victims into becoming informers rather than have the video released in public<br />
to expose them:<br />
107
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