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Two recent media reports refer to a camp with underground detention cells<br />
inside the Trincomalee naval site, which was referred to as “Gunside”. The<br />
report said the site was sealed by police investigators 60 .<br />
In addition, the Sri Lankan media has reported on a camp within the Naval<br />
Dockyard in Trincomalee that reportedly held 35 families and 700 Tamils 61 . The<br />
source for the story was TNA MP Suresh Premachandran, who mentioned the<br />
issue in the Sri Lankan parliament in February 2015 and asked for an<br />
investigation – a call that has been ignored so far. <strong>Report</strong>s in the media say the<br />
Prime Minister and the Justice Minister cited the Navy Commander denying the<br />
existence of such a camp 62 .<br />
Another report on TamilNet said two survivors had been released from what it<br />
called “Gota’s Camp” and had testified to the United Nations 63 . In March 2012,<br />
Amnesty International cited the testimony of a former LTTE member detained<br />
and tortured by naval intelligence and used as an informer by them. He told<br />
Amnesty there was “a secret detention facility within the Navy dockyards – a<br />
secured area that includes the ruins of British and Dutch fortifications. 64 ” In<br />
addition a Sri Lankan group, The Social Architects (TSA), independently of ITJP<br />
recently produced this information in one of their reports:<br />
“One eyewitness told TSA that the Government of Sri Lanka held 15 prisoners in<br />
the Trinco Navy Head Quarters from April 2009 – June 2012. For three years, the<br />
eyewitness and his fellow prisoners only had outside contact with the military<br />
intelligence from Joseph Camp in Vavuniya. The Government did not send them<br />
to a rehabilitation camp or tell their families that the prisoners were alive and<br />
in detention. The Government finally informed the prisoners’ family members<br />
about the detention in June 2012 and subsequently took the prisoners to<br />
Maruthamadu, Chettikulam Rehabilitation Centre for six months before<br />
releasing them. TSA cannot provide the eyewitness’s full account of this<br />
60<br />
Secret Detention Camps of Sri Lanka Navy in Colombo and Trincomalee, 11 July 2015, The Tamil Diplomat, accessed at<br />
http://tamildiplomat.com/secret-detention-camps-of-sri-lanka-navy-detected-in-colombo-and-trincomalee/ and Underground secret<br />
detention center found at Colombo, 10 July 2015, Lankasrinews, accessed at<br />
http://www.lankasrinews.com/view.php?22KOllaacT5YY44e3yMC2022mmB3dddBBm4300MgAAee4eY55cca3lOO23<br />
61 Secret camp operated in Trincomalee naval base, Sri Lanka Tamil party alleges, Colombo Page, 21 Feb 2015, Accessed at<br />
http://www.colombopage.com/archive_15A/Feb21_1424503390CH.php<br />
62 Evidence ready on Gota camp – Premachandran, 20 March 2015, Sri Lanka Mirror, Accessed at<br />
http://english.srilankamirror.com/news/item/2889-evidence-ready-on-gota-camp-premachandran<br />
63 OISL in acid test over witness submissions on ‘Gota camp’, TamilNet, 18 April 2015, Accessed at<br />
http://tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=37732<br />
64 Locked Away, Sri Lanka’s Security Detainees, 2012, Amnesty International.<br />
81
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