US embassy cable - 05COLOMBO1396

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 COLOMBO 001396 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR SA/INS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/10/2010 
TAGS: PTER, PINR, PHUM, PGOV, CE, LTTE - Peace Process 
SUBJECT: SRI LANKA: THESE TIGERS DON'T PURR: ANALYSIS OF 
THE TAMIL TIGER POLICE AND JUDICIARY 
 
Classified By: Charge d'Affaires James F. Entwistle, a.i., Reason 1.4(b 
) and (d) 
 
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SUMMARY 
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1.  (SBU) Summary: The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam 
(LTTE) exercise de facto control over parts of northern and 
eastern Sri Lanka, and the LTTE claims to have created a 
separate and fully functional government infrastructure 
within the areas it controls.  These institutions include 
political affairs, finance, administration, human rights, 
planning and development, forestry, communications, medical 
affairs, banking, police, and judiciary sectors that are at 
least nominally independent from both the Tiger military 
wing, as well as the Government of Sri Lanka (GSL).  Through 
a series of interviews conducted June 15-August 1 and a trip 
north along LTTE-controlled A-9 route July 27-29, poloff 
obtained information about the LTTE's police and judicial 
systems.  According to numerous sources, both institutions 
seem to be firmly embedded, efficient, and recognized by both 
LTTE members and independent onlookers.  However, critics 
argue that the lack of democratic accountability within these 
institutions is detrimental to all those living in Tiger 
controlled areas.  End summary. 
 
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Tiger Police Consolidating Control 
----------------------------------- 
 
2.  (SBU) According to press reports, the Tiger police force, 
formed in 1993, now has jurisdiction over all areas under 
LTTE control.  Although the LTTE police have no authority in 
government-controlled areas, their blue uniforms are 
prominent in the North and East.  According to both embassy 
contacts and pro-LTTE website Tamilnet, the police force has 
several units, including traffic, crime prevention, customs, 
crime detection, external and internal intelligence, 
administration, and a Special Forces division.  There are no 
accessible records of how many policemen the LTTE employs, 
but at a June 18 meeting with poloff, Tamil economist and 
researcher Dr. Muttukishna Sarvanantan conjectured that there 
are approximately 10,000 LTTE police in the North and East. 
Numerous interlocutors also told poloff that most LTTE police 
stations have their own prisons, called Corrective 
Rehabilitation Centers.  Some of these reportedly are open 
cell prisons, since it is highly difficult to escape through 
the dense jungle areas under LTTE control. 
 
3.  (SBU) At a June 22 meeting, pro-LTTE Tamil journalist V. 
Thevaraj, editor of the most widely distributed Tamil 
newspaper, Virakesari, told poloff that war veterans and 
families loyal to the LTTE receive hiring preference for 
vacancies in the police, but the Tigers also recruit using 
the local papers.  Thevaraj said the LTTE offers salaries 
ranging from Rs. 5,000-10,000 ($50-$100) per month, along 
with free meals and a uniform. (Note: In comparison, the 
average salary for a GSL policeman is $120 per month.  The 
Tiger military forces receive no wages at all.  End note). 
BBC press reports stated that the LTTE claims to run its own 
police academy that is capable of training up to 300 recruits 
at a time. 
 
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The Tiger Reserve Force: Uncle Prabhakaran Wants You! 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
 
4.  (C) Sarvanantan also told Poloff that the LTTE now has an 
auxiliary police force that seems to function as the Tigers' 
reserve force.  He speculated that due to recruitment 
difficulties, the LTTE has developed a secondary police force 
as a way to increase the number of trained troops they have 
available in case of a break in the ceasefire.  Sarvanantan 
also cited the Karuna split as a driving factor in the LTTE's 
changes to recruitment procedure.  (Note:  Karuna was a 
former LTTE cadre in the East.  He broke with LTTE commander 
Villupali Prabhakaran in 2004 and has taken an unknown number 
of cadres with him into an anti-LTTE group referred to in the 
vernacular as the Karuna Faction.  End note.) Sarvananthan 
claimed that the LTTE is now offering 5,000-10,000 rupees 
($50-$100) a month to new auxiliary recruits, along with a 
motorcycle and fuel allowance for joining.  The LTTE only 
requires reserve recruits to attend training once a week in 
the Wanni, the northern region under Tiger control.  Other 
sources could not confirm the existence of an auxiliary 
force, but Thevaraj did concur that the LTTE would likely use 
the police as military troops if hostilities resumed. 
 
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Taking a Tiger Size-Bite out of Crime 
------------------------------------- 
 
5.  (SBU) B. Nadesan, head of the LTTE police force, has 
proudly exhibited his police stations and forces to 
journalists and visitors to Tiger-controlled areas.  In a 
June 21 meeting with poloff, Pro-LTTE Tamil National Alliance 
(TNA) parliamentarians G.G. Ponnamabalam and Joseph 
Pararajasingham asserted that the LTTE police are efficient, 
welcoming, and fair in their prosecutions.  In press reports, 
the Tiger Police Force claims to have drastically reduced 
crime, and accounts from pro-LTTE embassy contacts affirmed 
that women now feel free to go out late at night without 
worrying about harassment.  (Comment:  Each interlocutor used 
remarkably similar language, perhaps indiciating that the 
LTTE leadership had issued "talking points."  End comment.) 
However, others, including anti-LTTE Eelam People's 
Democratic Party (EPDP) parliamentarian and Minister for 
Hindu Affairs Douglas Devananda, argued that LTTE police are 
poorly educated and hired for loyalty rather than competence. 
 Critics also describe the organization as militant, 
autocratic and unaccountable.  At a June 22 meeting with 
poloff, Thevaraj, while applauding the LTTE's role in 
reducing crime, still noted that it is likely that fear of 
the LTTE police has caused the sharp decrease in crime, 
rather than an "abnormally competent" police force. 
 
6.  (SBU) Nevertheless, some international press articles 
report that LTTE police pride themselves on being 
incorruptible, efficient, and fair, which the LTTE have 
claimed is a marked contrast to Sri Lankan police units. 
Emboffs on the way to Jaffna have observed the Tiger police 
at checkpoints and traffic stops, and they have said that the 
police in Tiger areas appear effective and strict.  Traffic 
police armed with laser speedometers gave traffic tickets to 
anyone who violated their 30 km speed limit.  In 2002, an 
Embassy driver received a speeding ticket from the LTTE 
traffic police for going approximately 5-10 km over the speed 
limit and personally paid a 250 Rs. (around $2.50) fine for 
the violation.  According to another Embassy driver, the LTTE 
fine has since increased to 1,000 Rs. (about $10.00).  TNA 
parliamentarians told poloff that even they cannot get out of 
LTTE traffic fines by bribing police officers, even though 
they might have been able to do so with GSL police forces. 
 
7.  (SBU) In a July 28 meeting, K. Ganesh, the GSL-appointed 
Government Agent of Jaffna, told poloff that the LTTE is a 
very disciplined force that is closely observed by their 
leadership.  According to Ganesh, in order to mainatain 
discipline and prevent corruption, Police officials cannot 
purchase goods from any shop while in uniform nor can they 
drink liquor.  (Comment: Although LTTE police cadres likely 
face harsh discipline from their leaders if they violate LTTE 
rules, there is no accountability to the populace at large. 
End Comment.)  At a June 17 meeting, LTTE proponent R. 
Nimalan Karthikeyan, Assistant Secretary to the National 
Peace Council, said that the LTTE police are motivated by a 
genuine desire to serve the people, but even he admitted that 
the lack of controls and accountability could easily lead to 
abuses in the future. 
 
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Judicial Efficiency Trumps 
Independence in LTTE Areas 
-------------------------- 
 
8.  (SBU) According to Thevaraj, the LTTE judiciary, formed 
in 1990, now has 144 trained lawyers and 22 judges.  Media 
reports said the LTTE even has its own law college and quoted 
Tiger leaders asserting the capability to train 150 lawyers a 
year.  The LTTE courts and law college are visible from the 
A9, the main road that connects Colombo with Jaffna and the 
rest of the North.  Thevaraj added that the LTTE also has six 
different types of courts: a Supreme Court, an Appeals Court, 
a Special Court, a High Court, and both Criminal and Civil 
District Courts.  He explained the structural system of the 
LTTE judiciary to poloff: The Supreme Court is the final 
appellate court that can overturn decisions from the Court of 
Appeals and Special Courts.  Prabhakaran appoints all five 
Supreme Court justices and the three judges on the Court of 
Appeals.  The High Court has the jurisdiction to try capital 
cases such as treason, murder, rape, and arson.  The Chief 
Justice of the Supreme Court appoints the High Court Justice 
and the district level judges in consultation with the LTTE's 
Judicial Administration Division.  (Note: The structure of 
the GSL court system is nearly identical except the GSL has 
magistrate courts that assign cases to the district or 
higher-level courts and more specialized labor and traffic 
courts.  End Note.) In total there are 6 LTTE district 
courts, and, E. Pararajasingham, the head of the judicial 
system, claims to have tried 32,000 cases in the district 
courts and 1,500 cases in the Appeals court.  All lawyers and 
judges are LTTE cadres, and LTTE loyalists can appeal to 
Prabhakaran himself for a final judgment.  It is unclear 
whether non-LTTE cadres enjoy the same right.  Thevaraj 
concluded by adding that defendants do not have the right to 
a court-appointed pro bono lawyer under LTTE courts, although 
lawyers are forbidden to charge more than 500 Rs. ($5) to 
represent a client, and most lawyers receive only 150 Rs. 
($1.50) per case. 
 
9.  (SBU) Karthikeyan noted that Tiger law and jurisprudence 
are a derivative of Roman and Dutch law called Thesalumi Law. 
 According to S. Thambirajah, librarian at the International 
Center for Ethnic Studies, LTTE laws are much less 
discriminatory towards women than traditional Tamil laws.  He 
cited examples: LTTE courts recognize the right of women to 
sell their own property and to divorce their spouses, which 
is not a right Sri Lankan Tamils have recognized in the past. 
 Also, the LTTE has outlawed caste discrimination, which is 
still prevalent in other parts of Tamil society.  Thambirajah 
noted, however, that most cases tried by the courts are land 
disputes, divorces, and alcohol abuse cases.  Some Embassy 
contacts said that LTTE civilian courts are much faster than 
Sri Lankan government courts.  For example, simple property 
disputes in government courts could take from one to ten 
years to settle, whereas LTTE courts consistently settled 
disagreements in one court date and often mediate disputes 
rather than proffering court rulings.  Yet Thambirajah added 
the caveat that LTTE lawyers and judges are poorly qualified 
and lack the independence essential to a democratic system. 
 
10.  (SBU) On the other hand, according to Thevaraj and 
Savarantan, most civilians avoid bringing forth criminal 
cases in LTTE courts, perhaps due to the potential for harsh 
penalties.  Thevaraj says that the LTTE claims that only four 
people have been executed for capital crimes, but this number 
does not include the well-documented number of cases where 
people have been put to death in the separate military courts 
or those executed without a trial. (Note: Throughout its 
history, the LTTE has demonstrated a ruthless intolerance for 
dissent through the use of extrajudicial killings, torture, 
intimidation, and terror directed at the GSL, those within 
the LTTE seen as traitors to the cause, anti-LTTE Tamils, and 
innocent by-standers.  End note.) 
 
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Comment 
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11.  (C) The LTTE's police and judicial institutions appear 
to efficiently deliver basic political and functional 
services. However, the assertion that all lawyers and judges 
are themselves LTTE cadres calls into obvious question 
whether everyone, including those opposed to the LTTE, 
receives equal treatment under LTTE law.  LTTE apologists 
hold up the speedy "justice" meted out in the Tiger courts as 
an enviable alternative to the cumbersome, slow-moving GSL 
legal system.  But dispensing swift justice is easy when 
there is a limited regard for constraining factors like rules 
of evidence, the rights of the accused, habeas corpus and 
impartiality, especially when all judges in the end are 
answerable only to LTTE leader Prabhakaran.  The real goal of 
LTTE courts seems to be distinction from the Sri Lankan 
courts through the use of speed and perceived efficacy, which 
is appealing to people looking for arbitration or hoping to 
settle small claim civil disputes.  However, process and 
fairness appear less of a priority than proving to the public 
that the LTTE is capable of filling a power vacuum in areas 
where the GSL does not function. 
 
12.  (C) For LTTE propagandists, the Tiger police and 
judiciary support the LTTE's claim to Eelam, or an 
independently governed homeland.  However, the LTTE legal 
system's lack of independence from the military leadership, 
its deficiency of accountability, and its failure to allow 
Muslim or non-Tamil representation are indicative of the 
LTTE's authoritarian and militaristic organizational culture. 
 The current problems within the LTTE police and judiciary 
structures give a pretty good idea of what any 
LTTE-controlled government or state would be like: despotic 
and undemocratic. 
 
ENTWISTLE