Sisitha Fernando.
Hailing from a Kandyan Sinhala Buddhist backdrop and with a number of policemen and women in the family, Mervin Premalal Weerasinghe joined Sri Lanka army’s 3rd Sinha Regiment in 1978 with the same pride that others in his family too, felt in volunteering to protect the nation.
Having served in some of the most fierce battles in Sri Lanka’s North and East during the ethnic war, and won peoples’ hearts as a war hero, Weerasinghe never thought that his only son would be the victim of an alleged abduction and murder in the hands of a group of Sri Lanka Navy personnel who allegedly abducted people, especially Tamils, during the war, and held them to ransom before they were finally disappeared, with evidence indicating they were murdered.
Weerasingha and Jeniffer/ Pix by Kushan Pathiraja
The worst part is that Weerasinghe as a senior military officer had visited the Navy’s Trincomalee Gun Site camp, the underground site which was originally used to store ammunition, where his son Dilan who was abducted in 2008 together with four other friends in Colombo was held, never to return.
Weerasinghe with his wife Jeniffer has been fighting for justice for their son and all abducted children, not only Sinhalese but belonging to all ethnic groups of Sri Lanka, for the past 18 years. They have faced insurmountable odds when faced with the laborious and timeconsuming Sri Lankan legal system.
Searching for justice for those abducted and disappeared children under various governments, in 2019 the then Attorney General filed indictments against former Navy Commander Wasantha Karannagoda and thirteen other accused, including Navy intelligent sleuths and sailors. The accused were indicted with over 667 charges including torture, extortion, abduction and conspiracy to murder 11 youth in 2008-2009.
However 18 years after abduction of these 11 youth, and nearly seven years after filing the indictment, the trial-at-bar has been dragging as the ex-Navy commander had filed a case to remove him from the trial.
“Even though some ordinary naval sailors carried out the gruesome task, we are sure that some highest ranking officials were involved in this entire episode. Part of the ransom money went to their pockets as well. If this case comes up, it would be a major problem for them as well,” says Weerasinghe who is now retired from the military.
“Former Navy Commander Karannagoda is an accused in the case where my son was abducted, held for ransom and disappeared along with other innocent youth and sons of parents like us,” laments the battle-hardened Weerasinghe who had seen many deaths during the war, but finds it emotionally hard to face the reality of what happened to his son in the hands of this murderous group, allegedly from the Navy.
“This is a great insult to the entire Sri Lanka Navy and military. I myself am a war hero and have faced death often in battle,” Weerasinghe said.
“There was undoubtedly great support from the then governments for these culprits. If not for that, by now some of those high ranking officials should be behind bars. Whether you are a suspect or not, you should face the allegations against you. But the problem is they are evading it,” Weerasinghe charged.
“For the last 18 years we have been looking for justice. Out of that, the case was dragged for more than six years over an appeal filed by former Navy Commander Karannagoda. We believe the former Attorney General deliberately dragged this case to save high ranking Navy officers whose names are connected to this grave crime,” he argues.
A proud Kandyan, Weerasinghe studied at Vidhyartha College, Kandy, and first joined Sri Lanka Army’s voluntary force in 1969 as a youth of 18 years.
“My father was in the Police, my younger sister too, was in the police. My elder sister got married to a policeman and her daughter was in the police, my elder sister’s brother-in-law was in the police. So many relations of ours had joined the police. Anyway, my heart was with the Army, and after my GSC examination I joined the Sri Lanka Army. That was my first job”.
In 1978, Weerasinghe joined the Sinha Regiment of Sri Lanka Army’s full service and even became the Best Recruit in his batch. His name appeared in the then Lankadeepa newspaper with the headline “Weerasinghe Soora Sebala” (Weerasinghe the Best Soldier).
“I was based in Nuwara Eliya and then later went around the country. I was sent to Ampara for military training. As the civil war was breaking, a new camp with new 20 recruits at Pulukunawa in Ampara was built, and I was appointed the head there. I went up the military ladder from lance corporal to Corporal, and I was invited to the Nuwara Eliya camp as they were forming a musical band, and needed someone with musical knowledge,” he reminisced.
“I was travelling with the band, and I had to go to Weli Oya and we were camping there; once, the camp was attacked and we had to leave it. I was promoted as a Warrant Officer.
“Once, I was miraculously saved when the Weli Oya camp was attacked and set on fire. We saved some soldiers and sent them away. I was also to go in that vehicle. But since there was no room, I was told to come in the next vehicle. But soon after this vehicle left the camp, we heard a blast. It had gone over a landmine planted by the terrorists, and all those who survived were shot,” Weerasinghe said, describing how he escaped death by a whisker during the war.
“In the North around 1997 or 1998, our camp was attacked and we were hiding in the forest. We lost everything and missed contact with others. My family thought I was dead,” Weerasinghe narrated another incident where he had a brush with death.
“Our son was there and my daughter was still small. We were desperately searching for him but nobody would give tell us a word. It was a hard time for us. We were doing Bodhi pooja as he had gone missing, and when we were going to do the 7th day Bodhi Pooja, I got a call from him. Finally he called and said ‘I am still alive.”
“My husband was very close to the Army and the military. Even now every three months he meets with his friends in the Sinha Regiment,” Jeniffer added.
Educated in Mahabodhi College in Maradana, Dilan was an intelligent young man. He lived in Colombo 10 with his aunts and grandmother as it was closer to his school.
“My son was brought up in such a good background. Having such a background and our entire family being close to the military and police, losing our son this way is unbearable,” the mother wailed.
“My son never said that his father was in the military and would take undue advantages. I think this quality worked against him. When he was abducted by the Navy, he could have told them that his father was in the military, and had a chance to save himself. But he didn’t do it. Then again, even if he said that, would his abductors release him as that would expose what they did to him,” Weerasinghe analysed.
“It was on September 18, 2008 and we were living in Kadawatha. I got a call from my sister that our son hadn’t returned home from last night. He had gone to a party given by Rajiv Naganatha, one of his friends who had been selected to study medicine abroad. Rajiv was one of the victims along with my son. It was a time when people were abducted in white vans. We went to the police, but the police didn’t record a complaint initially,” Jeniffer said.
There had been many instances where the police had ignored facts about this case. According to Jeniffer, the abduction was done targeting Rajiv to get about Rs. 10 million.
“We felt that Rajiv’s family knew about the whereabouts of these children; there was a middleman called Mubarak Anvar Ali through whom the deal was said to have done. Since I was able to understand Tamil, I could understand what was said between Rajiv’s parents. But I was assured that the children would be returned and told “not to spoil the chance”.
But Jeniffer, as a mother couldn’t bear the loss of her son, had gone to Kotahena police station and lodged a complaint.
“I made a complaint against Rajiv’s mother that she knows something which she didn’t want to reveal to us,” she added
“However even then there was a contradiction in the way the police acted. They were never summoned to the police. It only the police went to their house, and they had some influence over the police, too,”.
“It was a time that anybody could be arrested if a tip-off was given connecting him or her to the LTTE. So, during this time in addition to their official duties, they began doing things like abducting people to extort money,” Weerasinghe said. He added that even top ranking officers including the commanding officer of those camps were aware of what was happening.
“As far as I know, at least two parents of these 11 abducted children have given ransom,” Jeniffer who had been working with many parents of disappeared children, both from the North and the South, said.
“There is enough and ample evidence. The vehicle in which my son travelled with four other children was found in Navy custody. Once, the Magistrate in open court questioned that, if the vehicle is in Navy custody, what happened to the children who were there,” she said.
Investigation later revealed that a senior Navy Officer had repainted the vehicle, changed the number plate, and given it to his wife as a gift.
Gun Site camp
“I came to know about this Gun-site camp from a Tamil newspaper. Later I realised that my son also had suffered there,” Jennifer added.
It’s ironical that Weerasinghe, a respected military officer, had visited the camp and even the underground ammunition store in which years later his abducted son was detained.
“As a military officer during the war, we went to this Navy camp and I even went to this underground camp. I don’t know for what reason that I was able to see it before this nightmare happened. All the weapons and ammunition were stored there. There were two small openings to put artillery guns out and when the sea is rough the water would flash through those openings”.
“I was told by a person who visited that place that when the doors are closed it’s impossible to be there. It was so hot. It was not meant for human inhabitation but to store ammunitions,” he added.
“During the Rajapaksa government nothing positive happened with regard to these cases. Before the election in which Maithripala Sirisena came to power, we were asked to come for meetings and made promises that this case would be unearthed. When President Sirisena came to power, a team from Geneva came and inspected this camp and it was sealed,” Jeniffer said.
“As I was working with other mothers from the North and the East, I realised that some Navy teams had carried out abduction and extortion in similar pattern. According to what I was told by those mothers, their children too, were kept there. I met a Tamil mother whose son had been abducted in a similar way in the North. Since I was able to converse in Tamil, I could understand her. As instructed, they had paid to get the children out, but later they had been told that the complete amount was not there, so they asked for more. However the court hearing in that case was dropped saying there were no evidence.
“With regard to the ransom this was the same pattern some of the parents in our case also had experienced. It is very clear that similar abductions and extortions were done by the similar groups,” Jeniffer continued.
“I never thought that a military run by the government would do a thing like this to our children. There was another mother who died of a cancer later. Her son had been abducted and she had given Rs. 500,000. It was done in Kurunegala and it was taken by someone using the pseudonym of ‘Annachchi, ‘ and the actual person who had taken that was by Chaminda. This is a recorded case.
“My son had not done any wrong or involved in any criminal activity. People who had committed crimes can keep quiet but not me. I am speaking on behalf of my son and other mothers whose children have been disappeared in a similar way. I will fight till my last breath. I don’t know what I could do if I die.
“It is only my wife who is speaking in this case because the other parents are Tamil and Muslim. Some parents have been threatened not even to take part in this case,” said Weerasinghe who is now in a new operation to find justice for his son and many other young children who had gone missing
“We were really harassed during the Rajapaksa government. On the 2015 election date I voted, and didn’t go home for two days. When I returned I found that our house was burgled. Nothing valuable was taken except all the documents relating to this case. I am not a fool to keep all the documents there. They had taken only the copies.
“We made a complaint to Kiribathgoda police but no one was arrested.
The families of disappeared are worried as almost all accused who are in the Navy are still on active service and the worst is that some have even been given promotions.
“This seems to have started with the Tamils, then Muslims and then Sinhalese and everyone. It looks like we have been fighting with Tamils and Muslims like fools. At the end of the day we are all victims.”
Families might lose hope in justice; counsel
“It is important that the case that had been dragging for nearly two decade resolved soon. Otherwise the families of those disappeared will lose the faith on the law and order, judiciary and the entire justice system,” Attorney Achala Seneviratne who has been fighting for the justice on behalf of the families of 11 victims said.
“This case is a severe black mark on or military and the entire country,” she added.
She complained that during the previous regime some of the accused in this case diplomatic posts and even appointed as Governors.
Ex- Navy Chief and CDS Ravindra Wijegunaratne re-indicted for helping a key accused to escape
In one of the latest developments in the incident of abduction and disappearance of 11 youth in 2008 and 2009, Colombo Fort Magistrate Isuru Netthikumara last week directed the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to re‑indict former Navy Commander and Chief of Defence Staff Ravindra Wijegunaratne to a related case.
Wijegunaratne was the suspect in a case where he is said to have provided security to Lieutenant Commander Chandana Prasad Hetti Arachchi (alias Navy Sampath), — one of the key accused in the abduction case of 11 youth, and had allegedly helped to evade court proceedings and facilitated him to escape from the country. The suspect had been released in 2020 on the direction of the then Attorney General.
Wijegunaratne was arrested and remanded in November 2018 on charges related to covering up the crimes, and was released on bail in December 2018.
Appearing on behalf of the aggrieved parties, Attorney Ms. Achala Seneviratne has made a complaint to the Attorney General, the CID, and the Bribery Commission regarding the release of the suspect Wijegunaratne. She argued that Wijegunaratne was released despite serious allegations that he aided and abetted Lieutenant Commander Chandana Prasad Hettiarachchi in evading arrest and fleeing the country. The Magistrate who heard the lengthy legal argument overruled the earlier decision and ordered to re-indict former Navy chief Wijegunaratne. In delivering the order, Magistrate Netthikumara said in open court that it was the Attorney General’s duty to intervene to ensure that justice is served.