Barbarous Torture

by K. Mylvaganam, June 2, 2008

I am appending a statement made by a Hindu priest who was in prison for nearly a decade in Sri Lanka.

I would strongly suggest that children under 18, pregnant women, the elderly and those having heart ailments refrain from reading this as the contents are very frightening.

The actual names of those affected are replaced; places and dates are deleted to safeguard their safety. This is only a condensed part of the full statement from the priest in order to avoid undesirable consequences to him.

K.Mylvaganam

Barbarous Tortures

Sri Sankra Iyar Shivaguru Sarma
Jaffna

I have (Deleted) children. My wife is Sankari Sarma Shivaguru Sarma, age (Deleted). Our children are now aged (Deleted).

Since 1992 my wife is mentally affected. Doctor (Name Deleted) treated her. Due to Sooriya Kathir attack, we were displaced from Jaffna loosing all our properties and we moved to Kanthasamy Temple in Kilinochchi. Again we were displaced from Kilinochchi due to the Jeyasikkuru attack to Vavuniya. From there we went to Colombo in search of a job.

I got employed in a temple (name and address of the temple deleted) as a priest and I was getting my wife treated. On (date deleted) people from the TID (6th floor) arrested me on suspicion of having been involved in the suicidal attack on (name deleted). In spite of knowing that I am a Hindu priest, yet they stripped me naked and started whipping me with wires and hit me with iron rods, S-Lon pipe filled with cement and with a broomstick. They cut me with blades, scorched me with burning cigarettes and applied chilly powder and salt on the wounds. This was totally a horrifying and disgraceful experience. (With difficulty he controlled his emotions.)  

They hung me topsy-turvy by my toes and put chilly powder and petrol in a shopping bag and pulled it over my head, thus suffocating me. They snapped my holy thread (Poonool) from my body and crushed it under their boots. They crushed my penis by pressing it into a drawer and scorched it with burning cigarette butts. Even though I am a Hindu priest, they forced me to drink alcohol and eat meat. This caused me to vomit blood. Later they forcibly got my signature against my will on a document written in Sinhalese on (Deleted) and I was handed over to the CID on the 4th floor.

The CID kept me there for 07 months and tortured me severely. It was worse here than before. They inserted a piece of barbed wire through my anus and moved it up and down. Lot of flesh and blood came out. They beat me with a baton and I was bleeding from my head. I felt faintish and became unconscious and when I regained my senses,I noted the joint on my left elbow was broken. Here too  they tied both my hands behind, hung me upside down by my toes and beat me. I was beaten with 1.044 wires.

ICRC was not permitted to meet me. ICRC was tossed between TID and CID offices. When I said that the ICRC would be reporting to their Head office in Geneva saying that I had been killed, they agreed to allow the ICRC to see me. This was told to me by Ms. Linda from the ICRC. She recorded the details of my wounds. 

The temple I worked for threw my wife and children out of the temple and it was her brother, who took care of them and placed them in a lodge. The CID arrested my mentally derailed wife and our children [then aged (Deleted)] from the lodge on (date deleted). I was stripped and tortured in front of my children and wife. My wife was also tortured without considering that she was a mental patient. Both our children screamed on seeing this. Our children were released after three months and since (date deleted) they are staying in an orphanage. (He broke down when he mentioned the word “orphanage.”)

I was again handed over to the TID for inquiry. I was tortured by them. On (date deleted) a representative from the UNO took my confidential statement, which lasted for five hours. They photographed the wounds on my body. It was a doctor from the UNO who took the photos. On their instructions the DMO of the (Deleted)] Hospital recorded the wounds on my body. I was again handed over back to the CID.

My wife and I were taken out with a 72 hours prior permission from the magistrate on (Deleted) and we were tortured. We were taken out on several occasions for “inquiry” which meant more torture. We were then put in our respective prisons. I came to Kaluththurai prison on (date deleted). We were taken out on the following dates (4 dates deleted) and tortured. When we were presented before the magistrate on (date deleted) and on (date deleted), he ordered that protection be provided to us.

Ms. Linda from the ICRC, when she came to see me at the Jail, informed that I should not be tortured. All details of my wounds are with the ICRC. 

The details of the torture to my wife:

• They inserted a banana pod inside her vagina after applying chilly powder on it.
• They inserted barbed wire inside her vagina and the anus.
• Women officers stripped her while the males were watching.
• They slashed all over her body with blades.
• She was whipped with 1.044 wires.
• She was beaten with clubs, S-Lon pipe filled with cement, and belts.
• Her face was covered with a shopping bag filled with chilly powder and petrol.
• Her head was ducked in a water tank thus suffocating her.
• She was scorched with cigarettes.
• They inserted pins under the nails of the fingers.
• They pushed her on the floor and trampled her with their boots while standing on her.

I too got the same treatment except that I was beaten more severely and brutally.

Names of those who tortured me at the TID:

O.I.C – TID Pirasanna D Alvis, Sub Inspector (S.I.) Rasik, S.I.Thulukkoda, S.I.Upali S.I. Wennapuli

Those who tortured me at the CID :

O.I.C. CID Kumarasinga, I.P.Ampawela, S.I.Hareem, S.I.Wikramasingha, S.I.Sathik, S.I.Perero, S.I.Peris, S.I.Hemachchanthira, S.I.Fernando, Director Evan,, S.I.Vijayaratna

Those who tortured my wife at the CID:

O.I.C. CID Kumarasinga , I.P.Ampabala, S.I.Wickramasinga, W.S.I. Dayani Kamage,  W.P.C. Santhima , W.P.C. Kumary , S.I. Perera

 

When the torture on me was established, the crown council was trying to drag the case by bringing in new witness, which is illegal. There are five solicitors conducting the case on behalf of the state. This is the fourth judge conducting my case. In our case the Crown has no proof to establish the allegations against us. They have cross-examined for one and half years. My case number is (deleted). The Human Rights and Development Centre has appointed the solicitor Mr.(deleted)  to conduct our case.

I am attaching herewith the following:

• Reply from the leader of the opposition.
• Reply from him when he was the P.M.
• Reply from the head of the Norwegian Peace Community.
• Letter from the UN in Geneva.

(The letters are withheld)

“Where can we stay when we are released? Under the present circumstances killings and abductions are going on. Some also die in the prison.

Both of us have become utterly sick of the tortures. We are at a loss to know where to go with our children. Because we were in Jail, no Temple will admit us as priests. No relative will accept us in their fold. My wife who is already mentally ill and our children will be psychologically affected due to this. We do not know if we can live in peace. Only God can help us” said the Priest.