"To us all towns are one, all men our kin.
Life's good comes not from others' gift, nor ill
Man's pains and pains' relief are from within.
Thus have we seen in visions of the wise !."
- Tamil Poem in Purananuru, circa 500 B.C 

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Home > Tamils - a Trans State Nation  > Struggle for Tamil Eelam > Indictment against Sri Lanka > Genocide'83 > Sri Lanka's Genocidal War '95 to '01 : Introduction & Index > Sri Lanka's Genocidal War '95 to 01- the Record Speaks >  Sri Lanka's Undeclared War on Eelam Tamils in the Shadow of a Ceasefire - 02 todate > Disappearances & Extra Judicial Killings > Rape & Murder  > Torture  > Sri Lanka's War Crimes > Censorship, Disinformation & Murder of Journalists > Patterns of  Impunity  > Sri Lanka Accused at United Nations > Rajiv Gandhi's War Crimes

INDICTMENT AGAINST SRI LANKA

Sri Lanka's Genocidal War - '95 to '01

Torture and ill-treatment in army and police custody widespread, says Amnesty

On 17 June 1998, Amnesty International issued its annual report, covering events during 1997. The report can be found at http://www.amnesty.org . Amnesty declared that torture and ill-treatment in Sri Lankan army and police custody were widespread:

"Full implementation of safeguards for the welfare of detainees remained a concern. There were reports of the use of unauthorized places of detention, particularly in the north and east but also in Colombo. Some of them were run by Tamil armed groups fighting alongside the security forces.

Torture and ill-treatment in army and police custody were widespread. Kumaru Selvaratnam was arrested in March on suspicion of involvement with the LTTE. During the first eight days of his detention at Slave Island police station in Colombo, he was assaulted with a broomstick. He suffered injury to the testicles as a result of which they had to be surgically removed. In Jaffna, torture was widespread. Methods included near-suffocation with plastic bags filled with petrol; beatings with wire and plastic pipes; electric shocks; and suspension by the thumbs or ankles. The Supreme Court awarded compensation to a 14-year-old girl who had been tortured by police in Hungama in 1995. No prosecutions were initiated under the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment Act..."

However the record shows that Sri Lanka's torture of Tamils is not something new and has been carried out in a systematic fashion for more than twenty years - with the explicit or implicit support  of successive Sinhala governments that have ruled the country during this period. Appeals by Amnesty and other non governmental organisations have not inhibited the Sri Lanka authorities from carrying on 'business as usual'. As always, the record speaks:

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