A/HRC/7/3/Add.6 page 50 XIX. COLOMBO REMAND PRISON (Visited on 7 October 2007) 99. The Colombo Remand Prison is a very old institution and the conditions of detention are appalling: the institution is extremely overcrowded and prisoners are detained in poor hygienic conditions. On the day of the visit there were a total of 1,552 detainees. Ninety persons were convicted, 1,332 persons were in pretrial detention and 130 persons were detained under the Emergency Regulations. Eighty-five of them were detained in the G Ward, which is a special ward for LTTE suspects. Due to a lack of space 45 other suspects were detained in the I Ward. 100. The Special Rapporteur interviewed detainees that were transferred from Boosa Camp shortly before his visit. Most of them requested their names not to be cited in the report. 101. Twenty-one detainees (17 Tamils and 4 Sinhalese) were questioned on what forms of torture and ill-treatment they had to endure. Seventeen were beaten with batons or sticks; 13 were handcuffed in an uncomfortable position; 10 were subjected to the “parrot’s perch” and were lifted in this position; 2 were suspended by their thumbs for 15 and 30 minutes respectively (in Trincomalee and Jaffna army camps); 6 were hung upside-down with their legs bound together; 10 had a plastic bag with petrol put over their head; 3 had a stick inserted into their penis; 3 had gasoline poured over their penis; 1 had his penis tied and pulled; 4 were held in a “strappado” position on the ground; 11 were subjected to “falaqa”; 4 had their penis squeezed in a drawer; 10 were beaten on their joints (knees, elbows and shoulders); 1 was burned with a soldering iron; 12 were beaten on their ears, of which 8 still had problems hearing; 7 were beaten on the top of their heads; 1 was beaten with a gun on his stomach; 8 were threatened with a gun; 1 was fired at with a gun; 2 had blood in their urine; and 13 were kneed in their sides (kidneys). 102. Thavaraja Kokilakrihnan. On 30 March 2007, he was summoned to Therekovil Police Station and arrested. He was held there for three days. The first day, he was taken into a small room and beaten by eight police officers with cricket stumps and cricket batons. Then he was handcuffed behind his back and his feet were tied together. A bag filled with petrol was pulled over his head for about six minutes and he was beaten on his ears. Later he was suspended naked with a nylon rope around the handcuffs and hands to a fan on the ceiling and beaten for 20 minutes. During this time, he was raised and lowered to the ceiling several times. The second day he was beaten. On the third day, he was ordered by a policeman to run away and told that he would be shot in the back as he ran away. The detainee was forced to sign a statement in Sinhalese which he did not understand. Superintendant Karunathilake and Sergeant Peremunage were involved in the torture and ill-treatment. After three days he was transferred to Ampara Police Station/Crime Branch were he stayed for one month. Three constables from the Crime Branch used to get drunk during the night-time, and regularly took him out of his cell and beat him with a police baton and cricket stumps on his back. He was usually handcuffed during the beatings. On 1 May 2007, he was transferred to Boosa TID Detention Centre where he stayed until early October before being transferred to Colombo Remand Prison, shortly before the Special Rapporteur´s visit.