Stop-Torture-Report

From our evidence, it is clear that torture and sexual violence took place near
the frontline, in Manik Farm camp, in army or navy camps, in “rehabilitation”
camps, in police stations and in a multitude of unknown camps – some of
which could be army sites or captured LTTE camps.
Climate of Impunity for Sexual Violence During the End of the War
The treatment by the military of surrendering Tamil civilians and combatants
at the end of the war set the tone for what was to come. One insider witness
described seeing soldiers mutilating the corpses of Tamil women and men
behind the frontline in a sexual way. Commanding officers did nothing to stop
this sort of behaviour:
“What shocked me is that the clothing on all the bodies had either been fully
removed or at least such that the private parts on all of them were exposed… I
saw army soldiers continue to drink arrack and dance. They were dancing
because they were very happy after the victory. They were kicking and stepping
on the dead bodies of the LTTE fighters or civilians. There were officers there
but they did not do anything... Two captains just stood there talking while their
men were doing that. Some of the solders then came and stomped on some of
the bodies with their boots then posed for photographs with a boot on a body
and and holding their rifle up posing like a hunter standing over a trophy with
smiles on their faces. One girl had a stick about 4 feet long sticking into the air
from her vagina. One of the soldiers yanked it out and rammed it into her
vagina again. I saw one female with a fresh knife cut on her bare breast…I saw
some of the men saying things like ‘bloody LTTE dogs’, ‘We teach you a good
lesson’ - all the while using filthy sexual swear words.”
(Witness 69)
Videos and photographs have emerged online of mutilated naked and halfnaked
bodies, images sometimes sold by the same soldiers who took the
pictures.
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