A Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE)-led proceeding initiated with the U.N. Human Right’s Committee (HRC) on behalf of a former Tamil Tiger who was tortured at the hands of the Sri Lankan State has resulted in the unanimous ruling for the victim and against Sri Lanka by all 17 judges on the HRC tribunal presiding over the case.
The TGTE first initiated the proceeding with the HRC, the body of independent experts that monitors implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) by its States parties, under the ICCPR’s optional protocol. The TGTE also retained Mr. Geoffrey Robertson AO KC Barrister to legally represent the victim.
The HRC ruling detailed below is an important victory for all victims subjected to torture by the Sri Lankan State.
The Sri Lankan government has been condemned by all seventeen distinguished international judges over a case where a former Tamil Tiger who left that organisation, was detained, and tortured for a month by police before escaping to Switzerland. His torture, confirmed by Swiss doctors, included severe beatings with cricket bats, electric shock, and rape. The government of Sri Lanka denied the claims, but its defence was rejected. It also pretended that the claimant could have effective remedies in Sri Lanka, but these remedies were proved to be ineffective.
The UN tribunal has ordered Sri Lanka to investigate independently and thoroughly the police who were responsible for the brutality, and to ensure that they are prosecuted and punished. It must pay adequate compensation to the victim. It must change its laws to make sure that this kind of conduct cannot be repeated.
The victim was represented by Geoffrey Robertson AO KC. Mr Robertson commented “This is an especially important judgment about the legal obligation, not only on Sri Lanka but on the government of other countries, to protect all persons detained in police cells from beatings and other forms of torture and ill treatment. The Authorities have been ordered to punish the police who were responsible and to report in 6 months how they have changed their laws to provide better protection for prisoners. deaths and torture in police custody, especially as here when racial and political hostility contributed to police brutality, must never be overlooked.”
*ABOUT THE TRANSNATIONAL GOVERNMENT OF TAMIL EELAM (TGTE):
The Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE) is a democratically elected Government of over a million strong Tamils (from the island of Sri Lanka) living in several countries around the world.
TGTE was formed after the mass killing of Tamils by the Sri Lankan Government in 2009.
TGTE thrice held internationally supervised elections among Tamils around the world to elect 135 Members of Parliament. It has two chambers of Parliament: The House of Representatives and the Senate and also a Cabinet.
TGTE is leading a campaign to realize the political aspirations of Tamils through peaceful, democratic, and diplomatic means and its Constitution mandates that it should realize its political objectives only through peaceful means. It’s based on the principles of nationhood, homeland and self-determination.
TGTE seeks that the international community hold the perpetrators of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide against the Tamil people to account by Referring Sri Lanka to the International Criminal Court (ICC).
TGTE firmly maintains that for any permanent political solution to the Tamil National question requires the consent of the Tamil people through an internationally conducted and monitored referendum. The referendum should include internationally recognized solutions to the ethnic problem as options.
The Prime Minister of TGTE is Mr. Visuvanathan Rudrakumaran, a New York based lawyer.
