Nightmare

Abduction of a human rights defender Stephen Suntharaj after his 2 month detention and release by the courts: Immediate intervention needed to save his life
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A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission

(May 09, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Stephen Suntharaj, age 39, has been working for Centre for Human Rights and Development (CHRD) since March 2008 as program officer. He formerly worked for Child Protection Authority, Jaffna branch. Stephen had taken up many cases of child abuse in Jaffna as a result was threatened by different groups and ultimately had to flee Jaffna.

In the 1st week of March Stephen was taken by armed men in uniform, just few yards away from CHRD office (No. 06 Aloe Avenue Kolpity – Colombo 03). Another colleague of him has witnessed this event. Immediately CHRD sent its lawyer to nearby police stations and found Stephen at Kolpity police station.

Later they issued 2-month detention order and Stephen was kept at Kolpity police station for 2 months. During this period Stephen’s wife and his lawyer had regular access, and Stephen had told them that he was treated decently but had been interrogated by CID. On May 7th Stephen was released by the Supreme Court (Halstrup) around 2.30pm and he was accompanied by his lawyer to CHRD office. Later Stephen’s wife and three children joined him at CHRD office and a colleague of Stephen volunteered to take them to her house. This was around 5pm. Since Kolpity police withheld Stephen’s passport and national Identity card they went to the police station and collected the documents. At this point the lawyer left Stephen and the family to proceed to their location. Not even few minutes after they left the police station the lawyer got a call from the colleague who accompanied Stephen that few men in uniform abducted Stephen in a white van. The car that carried Stephen was stopped by a motor bike just close by Buddhist Ladies college (near Turret road junction), one man keeping a pistol at the drivers side, while another man in uniform opened the side door and dragged Stephen out and then pushed him into a white van parked by the side of the car. There were many bystanders watching this and Stephen’s 8-year-old son begged the man in uniform to not to hurt his father. Stephen’s wife and other have seen these men faces clearly expect for the man on the motorbike whose face was fully covered. All of them were in uniform and armed with pistols.

Stephen's wife has appealed to the international community to help whatever possible way to expedite her husband’s release. Stephen was released from jail due to an order from the Supreme Court. There is no reason to believe that those who abducted Stephen are acting on any other instructions other than those from the people who authorised his detention in the first place. It is the duty of the Ministry of Defence and the Sri Lankan government to immediately take steps to find and release Stephen.

The entire responsibility for this abduction lies with the Sri Lankan government. Abductions, killings and disappearances have been going on for a long time and the government has done nothing at all to bring this matter to an end. We urge the local and international community to intervene strongly to save the life of Stephen.

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About AHRC: The Asian Human Rights Commission is a regional non-governmental organisation monitoring and lobbying human rights issues in Asia. The Hong Kong-based group was founded in 1984.

-Sri Lanka Guardian