A/HRC/7/3/Add.6
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103. Kendemarakilega Anura Silva, aged 23. He was arrested by the police on 28 March 2007
at 4 p.m. in Ampara and was brought to Ampara Police Station where he was detained for one
month and five days. Then he was transferred to Thirukovil Police Station. The police officers
brought him to the kitchen in order to hide him from his relatives. He was blindfolded,
handcuffed behind his back and shackled. A rope was bound around his body on which he was
suspended. He was beaten with cricket batons all over his body. After the beatings he was seated
and tied to the window. Two police officers, SI Karunatileka and Kaluarachchi, said that they
were going to prove that he was a member of the LTTE. They heated a flat metal bar, which was
approximately as long as an arm and thick as a finger, with which he was burned on his legs.
His wife later informed the ICRC. A representative came five days later and spoke to him in
private. He told her of the torture and she promised to come back after three days. In the
meantime, officer Karunatileka threatened him not to complain to her again. In May he was
brought to Boosa. Officer Nishanta at Boosa claimed that the burning marks were in fact bullet
wounds and accused him of being a member of the LTTE. In the following three months he was
tortured and beaten in regular intervals. One night in July, three drunken policemen tortured him
with a soldering iron. He still has two dozen burning marks on his chest. One of the policemen
was Nishanta, the others were called Nanyakkara and Silva. Forensic evidence corroborated his
allegations.
104. The Special Rapporteur recommends that Mr. Kendemarakilega Anura Silva, who was
extremely depressive and suicidal during the interview, receive proper medical and psychiatric
rehabilitation and be released.
105. Detainees, male. The two detainees reported to the Special Rapporteur that they were
suspended by their thumbs in the respective army camps where they were held. After their
description of the ill-treatment, the forensic doctor examined their thumbs, which in one case
showed thin linear scarring consistent with suspension by wire as alleged. Both described very
severe pain on suspension and loss of consciousness from pain, with apparent dislocation of the
thumb joints. Both gave similar accounts of the physical effects of the alleged ill-treatment on
their ability to use their thumbs for such day-to-day activities as eating and holding drink
containers. On examination six and three months, respectively, after the events, both displayed
weakness of the thumbs in pinching and gripping movements but no weakness of the other
digits, and both complained of the continuing practical effects of this on day-to-day life.
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