They beat me
and trampled me with their boots.
They removed my clothes.
They covered my face with a plastic bag that was soaked in petrol
with a plastic bag
that was soaked in petrol
and I lost consciousness.
The Sri Lankan authorities have tortured,
including by rape and other sexual violence,
ethnic Tamils in custody who they suspect are linked to the Tamil tigers.
There was a similarity in what happened in these cases. People would often be
abducted from their homes by individuals who were in plain clothes
who did not give their identities, who turned out to be members
of the security forces. They would be blindfolded and taken somewhere, where
they would be interrogated. When I woke up, I found myself
alone in a dark room.
Later in the night, two people came back into my room. They tortured me sexually.
Either that day or the next,
they told me they
needed to interrogate me again.
Then, they raped me again.
They burned me
with citgarettes
on my back and legs.
Then they demanded that I tell the truth.
What we found was,
that this abuse not only was widespread during the final months of the fighting,
which ended in May 2009, but have continued in the years since then.
And the government has taken no action either to stop the abuse
or to punish those responsible.
These cases
clearly say that the human rights violation are taking place in Sri Lanka.
And any people who were involved in the LTTE in the past, or who are
suspected of having involvement with the LTTE,
their lives are at risk now.
They came back one day and said, "You were with the LTTE."
"We know everything. You've come
back to Sri Lanka
to rejoin the LTTE."
They said other things like that.
I didn't say anything and kept silent.
Then they tied me to a table and beat me with cables.
This rape and sexual abuse
was committed against men, against women,
in official detention centers, in secret detention centers.
It involved the military, the police,
local militias...
I was tortured and raped
by a person in civilian clothes.
For three days,
it continued like that.
When I wouldn't confess, they brought me a paper.
It was written in Sinhalese and I didn't know what it said.
They asked me for a signature and I refused.
They beat me for that.
I couldn't do anything else,
so I signed the document. I didn't know what it said and it was not read back to me.
These abuses are continuing, and
it's up to the Sri Lankan government not only to investigate and prosecute,
those responsible for past torture and rape
in custody, but they need to take urgent action to
prevent it from happening in the future.
I'm still
suffering from the torture I experienced. I can't sleep. I think [about it] a lot.
It's made it difficult to raise my child.
The father isn't here.
I don't know where he is.
Torture like this should not happen
in our country anymore.