CAT/C/61/D/659/2015 Factual background 2.1 On 5 May 1995, while visiting relatives in Trincomalee, the complainant and two of his siblings were arrested by the Sri Lanka Army and taken to a detention camp in Trincomalee. The complainant was severely assaulted in the camp and taken to Trincomalee Hospital for treatment. The complainant alleges that one of the officers, T.S., who arrested him and personally assaulted him while in detention, was an Intelligence Officer in Trincomalee and is currently employed as a local security assistant for the United Nations Department of Safety and Security in Jaffna. While detained in the Trincomalee camp, the complainant received eight visits from officers from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). He was released on 10 February 1996 without any charges. The complainant was never informed of the reasons for his detention. 2.2 In July 2006, the complainant started working with United Nations Department of Safety and Security as a local security assistant in the Eastern Province, covering the districts of Ampara, Batticaloa and Trincomalee. He was in charge of sending reports to his supervisor on the security situation in the Eastern Province and providing technical support to the area security coordinator and all United Nations staff in that province. As part of his responsibilities, the complainant regularly interacted with the Sri Lanka Army, police, Special Task Force and other government officials, paramilitary groups and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). 2.3 Certain aspects of the complainant’s professional responsibilities created resentment among government and paramilitary groups, especially the Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP) and LTTE,2 who were displeased that reports were being disseminated to the United Nations on what was occurring on the ground in the Eastern Province. On 28 June 2008, the complainant received a threatening telephone call, warning that he should not interfere with “their” work, and accusing him of being an LTTE supporter. On an unspecified date, he filed a complaint with the police in Batticaloa. However, the police never identified the caller. In the meantime, the complainant continued to receive threatening phone calls on a monthly basis, with the caller referring to reports about the security situation written by the complainant and saying, “We know you are an ex-LTTE cadre, we know who you are, be careful, we will kill you”. 2.4 In August 2009, an armed member of TMVP, surrounded by a group of four or five men, showed up at the complainant’s house and threatened him with death. 3 The complainant contacted the police, who dispersed the group of men. Before the group left, the armed man told the complainant, “We will see you later”. The complainant adds that, back then, TMVP was abducting children to be used as soldiers. He believes that the source of resentment against him was the fact that he acted as an interpreter between the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and TMVP in the camps where some children were being held. 2.5 At approximately 2 a.m. on 22 August 2011, unknown assailants threw projectiles at the complainant’s house for approximately twenty minutes. The incident was reported in the United Nations weekly report of 26 August 2011. 2.6 In November 2011, the complainant was assigned by the United Nations to a duty station in Trincomalee. As part of his professional responsibilities, he had to interact with T.S., the intelligence officer who had arrested him in 1995. The officer asked the complainant his name and if he had ever been in Trincomalee before and whether they knew each other. The complainant responded in the affirmative. The following day, the officer was reassigned to a duty station in Jaffna. 2.7 In January 2012, the complainant noticed that he was often followed by men on motorbikes without licence plates whenever he left his house. The riders wore black helmets with opaque visors that completely hid their faces. The complainant filed about 2 3 2 The complainant states that he informed his United Nations supervisor on several occasions of the threats. On the advice of his supervisor, he filed numerous complaints with the police, but the police did not conduct any official investigation. The armed member of TMVP allegedly told the complainant: “You think you are a big person? You are a Tamil person and you are working against us. If you want I can kill you”.