Stop-Torture-Report

(Witness 70)
The Forward Maintenance Area, just behind the frontline where LTTE suspects
were taken after capture, was run by the now Commander of the Sri Lankan
Army, Lt General Krishantha de Silva 47 . The same security force insider witness
told ITJP:
“During the war, General Krishantha de Silva did not command a regiment but
he was very close to Gotabaya Rajapaksa. Gotabaya in the last days of the war
would give orders to de Silva who would then pass them on to General
Jayasuriya to be carried out. Though de Silva was stationed in Colombo I saw
him on a number of occasions near and at the end of the war in army camps in
Vavuniya and near Omanthai. He was not on the frontlines but in the secured
area behind the frontlines and was in charge of the Forward Maintenance Area
and was in charge of dealing with all the surrendees and captured former LTTE
cadres.”
(Witness 70)
It is our understanding that the Forward Maintenance Area also included the
“rehabilitation camps” and Manik Farm camp.
Allegations Against the then Secretary of Defence
When the ex-President’s brother, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, assumed office as
Secretary of Defence he took over control of the Special Task Force (STF),
previously under the control of the Inspector General of Police. Three witnesses,
two of them insiders, testified that Gotabaya Rajapaksa used the STF to
intimidate and silence any opposition, including several journalists who were
not sufficiently sycophantic 48 .
47 In 2014, he was also appointed Deputy Chief of Mission at the Sri Lankan Embassy in Moscow.
48 Security force insiders and other eyewitnesses have also testified that it was the STF that murdered the students at Trincomalee and
massacred the ACF workers in Muttur prior to the final phase of the war.
51