Nov 20, Colombo: The Chairman of the Sri Lankan Presidential Commission to Inquire into Complaints Regarding Missing Persons Maxwell Paranagama said the Commission is studying the preliminary report released by the UN Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances following the group’s 10-day visit to Sri Lanka from November 9-18.
Responding to the group’s observation that they had seen a secret underground detention center in the Trincomalee naval base, the Chairman said the commission is studying the UN group’s report and will issue a press release early next week.
He told the Express News that none of the witnesses who appeared before the commission’s sittings complained about the existence of a torture chamber in the Trincomalee naval base.
“The UN Working Group should have gone to these places un-announced. Given advance notice, witnesses are tutored by interested parties,” Paranagama was quoted as saying.
During their visit, the Working Group also visited the Boosa Detention Center and the temporary detention facilities on the 4th and 6th floors of the CID and TID building.
The UN team had reportedly said that they saw 12 cells in the Trincomalee naval base. The chambers’ walls had blood stains and had definitely been in use till 2010 if not longer, they said.
When asked about the charge, the spokesperson of the Foreign Ministry, Mahishini Colonne, told the media on Thursday, that the government will study the report, rectify the faults and see that those do not occur again.
Colombo Page