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A report from the International Truth and Justice Project stated that 15 Tamils were beaten, burned, asphyxiated and sexually assaulted within two years.
A few days before the UN Human Rights Summit, a human rights lawyer who wrote a report on suspected abuse said that Sri Lankan political prisoners are being tortured while being detained by the police and military.
The International Truth and Justice Project (ITJP), a rights organization documenting alleged abuses in Sri Lanka, detailed 15 members of the Tamil minority community in its report on Friday. They said they were beaten, burned, suffocated and suffocated by the authorities. Sexual assault. In the past two years.
Since the former wartime defense minister Gotabaya Rajapaksa became president in 2019, their testimonies together are the most detailed description of the island nation’s alleged new abuses.
“We are dealing with a country where torture is rampant, and the government has no willingness to take any action,” Yasmin Suka, a human rights lawyer who co-authored the report, told Reuters.
“What you have is a tacit consent, really, to those at the highest level who condone what is happening.”
The government denied these allegations.
“We completely refute the allegations in this report,” Health Minister Keheliya Rambukwella, who is also a senior government spokesman, told Reuters.
He said that some of the previous allegations of kidnapping and torture were made by “vested interests” and later proved to be false. He did not elaborate.
Spokespersons for the Sri Lankan military and police declined to comment on the report.
Sri Lanka ended a 25-year civil war between Tamil minority separatists and government forces in 2009. Human rights organizations accused both sides of abusing their power during the war.
These 15 members-one female and 14 males-were not identified in the ITJP report. They participated in activities to commemorate those killed in the war, volunteered for Tamil political parties, or obtained funds from abroad on behalf of people under surveillance.
Three of the 15 people were members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), which was the main organization that fought the government during the war, but many of them were children at the time.
The victims allegedly stated after being detained that they had been treated, including being suffocated by a plastic bag filled with gasoline and pierced by an iron rod.
The alleged victims who fled Sri Lanka are now seeking asylum in the UK, and they were interviewed with lawyers and human rights investigators within a few days.
ITJP stated that 9 of these 15 cases had supporting medical reports compiled by independent experts that confirmed torture.
Those who did not undergo a medical examination were photographed to show their scars.
No one has been charged with any crime.
UN review
The report was released before the meeting of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) that started on Monday, which will focus on Sri Lanka.
The United Nations has authorized its head of human rights, Michelle Bachelet, to collect evidence of crimes against humanity committed during the civil war.
Bachelet stated in January that Rajapaksa had placed at least 28 active or retired military and intelligence personnel in key administrative positions, including some mentioned in the UN report on suspected war crimes and crimes against humanity. people.
“Sri Lanka will present its views and demonstrate the progress made in advancing reconciliation at the upcoming UN Human Rights Council meeting later this month,” Lambukweila said.
ITJP has previously assisted in two civil lawsuits against Rajapaksa, one of which was filed in a parking lot in California in 2019. Rajapaksa was a US citizen at the time.
Both cases were withdrawn after Rajapaksa obtained diplomatic immunity after becoming president later that year.
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