US embassy cable - 05COLOMBO595

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 COLOMBO 000595 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR SA/INS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/23/2015 
TAGS: PHUM, PGOV, KCRM, CE, Human Rights 
SUBJECT: SRI LANKA:  SUSPECTED "ENCOUNTER" KILLINGS BY 
POLICE RISE IN CAPITAL 
 
REF: 04 COLOMBO 1896 
 
Classified By: DCM JAMES F. ENTWISTLE.  REASON:  1.4 (B,D). 
 
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SUMMARY 
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1.  (SBU)  Over the past four months, 17 suspected criminals 
have been shot and killed as they were being taken into 
police custody, primarily in Colombo and surrounding areas. 
Although police versions of such incidents invariably claim 
that the suspects attempted to shoot or otherwise injure 
police while resisting arrest, there are no corresponding 
reports of gunshot or stabbing injuries suffered by police to 
back up these accounts.  Inquests conducted by a magistrate 
in 16 of the cases found the officers involved used 
justifiable force; one case remains pending.  The increase in 
such killings coincides with a directive to the police from 
the President to reduce crime in Colombo following the 
November slaying of a judge in front of his Colombo residence 
(Reftel).  Poloff has expressed concern at the incidents to a 
senior police official, citing possible Leahy Amendment 
implications.  The Embassy will continue to monitor the 
situation.  End summary. 
 
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CRACKING DOWN ON CRIME, 
COLOMBO STYLE 
------------------------ 
 
2.  (SBU) Since late November, at least 17 crime suspects 
have been shot and killed, mostly in Colombo and its 
environs, allegedly as police attempted to apprehend them. 
Police accounts of the incidents generally claim that the 
suspects, nearly all of whom are identified in the press as 
underworld figures, attempted to resist arrest by displaying 
weapons--usually handguns or hand grenades.  (According to 
one particularly interesting, if rather implausible, story, 
the suspect attempted, while handcuffed in a squad car, to 
strangle a policeman.)  There are no corresponding accounts, 
however, of any policemen sustaining gunshot or stabbing 
injuries as a result of these encounters. 
 
3.  (SBU)  The spike in such killings coincides with a 
"get-tough-with-crime" campaign set in motion through 
public--and Presidential--outrage at the bold day-time 
killing of Judge Sarath Ambepitiya in front of his Colombo 
home on November 19 (Reftel).  In the aftermath of that 
high-profile slaying, President Chandrika Kumaratunga made 
clear her displeasure at the spiraling crime rate in Colombo 
and threatened to revive the (still legal but never 
implemented) death penalty.  On November 22 newly appointed 
Inspector General of Police Chandra Fernando (who took office 
just the previous month with a pledge to reduce crime) told 
the Ambassador and RSO that he envisioned more aggressive 
police pressure on organized crime.  The following day, the 
first apparent "encounter" killing of two suspected gangsters 
took place in a Colombo suburb.  Since then, the succeeding 
months have seen similar occurrences (five killed in three 
incidents in December; seven killed in three incidents in 
January; and three killed in three incidents in March). 
 
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HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSIONER SEES TREND 
------------------------------------- 
 
4.  (SBU)  Dr. Radhika Coomaraswamy, Chairperson of the Human 
Rights Commission, attributes the uptick in killings to an 
overall lack of capacity within the police.  Increasingly, 
Coomaraswamy said, confessions obtained by police from 
criminal suspects are being thrown out in court on suspicion 
that the confession was obtained under duress--the 
time-honored method of conducting investigations used by Sri 
Lankan police even before the ethnic conflict.  While the 
court's increased vigilance is a good development, she 
indicated, it has not been accompanied by sufficient efforts 
to upgrade the technical capacity and expertise of the civil 
police.  The result has been mounting frustration on the part 
of the police as they witness many "known" criminals set free 
because of lack of evidence--as well as an openly adversarial 
relationship with human rights groups.  Moreover, 
Coomaraswamy added, many average citizens (including her own 
mother) weary of rising crime support efforts, however 
extra-judicial, to clean up the streets. (The positive press 
coverage that characterizes recent reporting of such 
incidents seems to back up this assumption.)  She added that 
she has no evidence of high-level sanction of the new 
tactics. 
 
5.  (U)  The Human Rights Commission summoned IGP Fernando on 
March 21 to discuss the killings, which, according to the 
press release issued the same day, the Commission 
characterized as extra-judicial.  According to Coomaraswamy, 
the IGP, not surprisingly, denied having any policy 
encouraging or condoning extra-judicial killings.  In 
response, the Commission, with the full-time help of a 
retired High Court judge, will examine inquest proceedings on 
the cases and will establish a committee to recommend 
improvements to "the rule of law with particular reference to 
crime prevention, prosecution and punishment," according to 
the statement. 
 
6.  (C)  Noting that the new IGP had attended numerous human 
rights seminars and training workshops, Coomaraswamy 
described him as "more savvy" and self-assured than his 
predecessors--and thus, in some respects, harder to work 
with.  His two predecessors had been slightly intimidated by 
the Commission; Fernando, on the other hand, seems confident 
that he can parley public support for his tactics--along with 
lip service to human rights tenets--into a freer hand.  She 
noted that he had complained repeatedly in public meetings 
about the Commission impeding police work.  After she sent 
him a letter advising him that his remarks were 
inappropriate, he ceased making such comments in public.  On 
the other hand, she credited him with making several 
difficult decisions, including firing almost 40 officers 
since his appointment, and taking tough action against four 
policemen suspected of killing a former detainee.  Now that 
the pattern of "encounter" killings had attracted unwanted 
attention--and the IGP had already achieved his purpose of 
putting "the fear of God" into underworld gangs--the 
incidents will likely cease, she speculated. 
 
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THE VIEW FROM THE SQUAD CAR 
---------------------------- 
 
7.  (SBU)  Jayantha Wickramaratna, Deputy Inspector General 
(DIG) for Crime, told poloff in a March 24 meeting that the 
police fully respect human rights, noting that human rights 
is an important component of training for inductees into the 
police force.  Wickramaratna blamed both the increase in 
organized crime and the lack of police capacity to address 
the phenomenon on Sri Lanka's lengthy ethnic insurgency. 
During the conflict, he said, police were taken away from 
their normal duties to provide VIP security, to man 
checkpoints and to guard sensitive infrastructures.  New 
recruits were not trained in civil policing methods.  At the 
same time, he said, the high level of desertions among Sri 
Lankan Army soldiers added two undesirable new elements to 
the existing criminal underworld in Sri Lanka:  a 
proliferation of readily available automatic weapons and 
grenades (apparently the weapon of choice in criminal gangs) 
and desperate, unemployed young men trained in their use. 
 
8.  (SBU)  Since the ceasefire between the Government and the 
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in 2002, however, 
training of police personnel has been given priority, 
Wickramaratna said.  Upgrading investigative skills is a key 
need, Wickramaratna agreed, adding that at present only 4 
percent of those indicted for "grave" crimes are convicted. 
Following Ambepitiya's killing, the President had asked the 
police to identify problems faced in trying to curb the crime 
rate.  According to Wickramaratna, four key areas were cited: 
 a) the 24-hour limit on how long police may keep suspects 
without producing them before a court; b) lengthy delays in 
the judicial system (a case filed today will likely not be 
adjudicated until 2008); c) non-implementation of the death 
penalty; and d) intimidation of witnesses and the lack of a 
witness protection program.  (Wickramaratna estimated that 
about 20-25 witnesses in criminal cases were murdered in Sri 
Lanka during the past year.)  The Government has taken one of 
the suggestions on board, he noted; on March 22 the Justice 
Minister tabled an amendment to the Criminal Code to allow 
police to hold suspects for 48 hours.  (Note:  Coomaraswamy 
believes that Government coalition partner Janatha Vimukthi 
Peramuna (JVP), which waged a violent insurgency against the 
Government in the late 1980s during which countless JVP 
cadres "disappeared," will oppose the amendment.  End note.) 
 
9.  (SBU)  Poloff noted the growing U.S. program of law 
enforcement training, designed to improve police capacity. 
This year the Embassy is sponsoring INL-funded ICITAP courses 
in community policing aimed at helping the civilian police 
make the transition from maintaining law and order during the 
conflict, when emergency legislation gave them more extensive 
powers to detain and question suspects, to the more "normal" 
time of the ceasefire.  (Courses will also be offered on 
crime scene investigation and criminal case building.)  In 
addition, the Government Analyst has approached the Embassy 
to fund about USD 200,000 for laboratory equipment to analyze 
forensic evidence gathered at crime scenes (septel).  Poloff 
expressed concern, however, at the recent jump in the number 
of suspects killed while being taken into custody; noted the 
interest of human rights groups, including the Human Rights 
Commission, in the issue; and advised that any evidence of 
human rights abuses committed by police could have negative 
implications for our ability to extend assistance and/or 
training.  Wickramaratna rejoined that a magistrate had 
conducted an inquest into each incident to determine if any 
appropriate action had been taken.  In 16 of the 17 cases, he 
said, the magistrate had ruled the killings as "justifiable 
homicide"; the 17th and most recent case (March 18) remains 
pending.  (He confirmed, however, that despite claims that 
the suspects had attempted to attack the arresting officers, 
no police had been shot, stabbed or had a grenade actually 
thrown at them during these encounters.  One police driver 
suffered unspecified injuries in one incident and had to be 
hospitalized briefly.) 
 
 
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COMMENT 
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10.  (SBU)  During the two decades of ethnic conflict, law 
enforcement efforts focused on identifying and eradicating 
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) militants--efforts in 
which the Sri Lankan military and Special Task Force took the 
lead.  During that time--when special anti-terrorism 
legislation permitted lengthy detentions without warrants or 
due process--little was done to upgrade the technical skills 
and capacity of the underpaid, under-staffed civilian police 
force.  Since the ceasefire, however, these limitations--and 
the implications they pose for Sri Lanka's human rights 
record--are glaring.  Our 2004 human rights report for Sri 
Lanka highlighted a new area of concern for the year:  the 
growing number (13) of deaths of suspects while in police 
detention.  With nearly the same number killed before they 
even make it into police custody in just the first three 
months of 2005, it is hard to find cause for optimism.  That 
said, police authorities recognize that they must improve the 
skills and professionalism of their officers and are seeking 
(and receiving) U.S. help to do so.   We will continue to 
monitor the situation closely. 
LUNSTEAD