Sri Lanka: Treatment of Sinhalese opposition figures (not in parliament) and human rights activists, as well as their families by the government or so-called "death squads"

News reports from Sri Lanka appear to be concentrating on the attacks by the Janatha Vimukhti Peramuna (JVP) and the government response, including the activities of so-called death squads. No information is available which links death threats against Sinhalese opposition figures, or their assassination, to the Colombo government. Reports from Sri Lanka indicate, however, that lawyers who have been active in the area of human rights have been assassinated or threatened with death. The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) reports, in letter dated 4 September 1989, that Charitha Lankapura, a lawyer known for the many habeas corpus petitions he had filed on behalf of suspected JVP members who disappeared after arrest by security forces, was killed on 7 July after returning home from a demonstration. The same letter mentions death threats made against two other lawyers, Prins Gunasekara and Kanchana Abhypala. Mr. Abhypala was killed on 28 August 1989. The ICJ quoted Amnesty International in its belief that the circumstances of Mr. Lankapura's death "raise the possibility that government security forces were responsible for his death." The death of Mr. Abhypala was further mentioned in an article in The Globe and Mail, dated 31 August 1989, which reported that the Sri Lankan bar association has sent a letter to President Premadasa warning that death threats against lawyers were being carried out. ["Situation "Chaotic" in Sri Lanka as killings continue to mount", The Globe and Mail, 31 August 1989, p. A4.] The bar association representative charged that the death threats were the work of paramilitary vigilante groups attempting to stop the JVP. In addition, a report in India Today on 15 August 1989 noted that in the previous three months, three lawyers taking up human rights causes had been killed. [Chidanand Rajghatta, "Macabre Retaliation", India Today, 15 August 1989, p. 34.]

Please note that an article from the 8 September 1989 edition of Asiaweek mentions that fact that the JVP and Sri Lankan security forces had begun targeting each other's family members in an escalation of the violence. ["Targeting the families", Asiaweek, 8 September 1989, p. 33.]

In addition to the articles mentioned in the text above, please find attached a series of articles which provide information on the activities of both the JVP and the vigilante groups.

In response to a query regarding the possible treatment of a member of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party who had been defeated in the last elections, Bruce Matthews, a noted Canadian expert on Sri Lankan politics, commented that death threats "would not be beyond the realm of the possible" in Sri Lanka. Professor Matthews added that any kind of empathy with the JVP can place a person in danger but the degree of this danger varies with the locale in Sri Lanka. Someone from metro Colombo is in much less danger than someone who comes from the Uva, South-Central or Southern Province of Sri Lanka. There are, in effect, many unsuccessful SFLP candidates from the last election in Sri Lanka who do not appear to be in any danger. But if a candidate did something or said something different from the other SFLP candidates, especially something offensive to the President or to the JVP, this could increase the threat to that candidate. Professor Matthews also stated that an opposition politician in parliament faces less of a threat because of the bodyguards provided to parliamentarians by the police. The information provided by Professor Matthews cannot be corroborated in published sources by the IRBDC at the present time.

No further corroborating information on this topic is available to the IRBDC at the present time.