{"id":170478,"date":"2016-11-16T08:32:42","date_gmt":"2016-11-16T03:02:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=170478"},"modified":"2016-11-17T05:05:18","modified_gmt":"2016-11-16T23:35:18","slug":"immediately-detain-sri-lankas-national-intelligence-chief-diaspora-tamils-tell-swiss-authorities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/immediately-detain-sri-lankas-national-intelligence-chief-diaspora-tamils-tell-swiss-authorities\/","title":{"rendered":"Immediately Detain Sri Lanka\u2019s National Intelligence Chief: Diaspora Tamils Tell Swiss Authorities"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Tamil Diaspora organisations have today\u00a0called on the Swiss authorities to immediately detain and prevent Director of Sri Lanka\u2019s Centre for National Intelligence, Sisira Mendis from leaving Switzerland until there is a thorough investigation into the serious charges of torture against him.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_170479\" style=\"width: 160px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Director-of-Sri-Lanka\u2019s-Centre-for-National-Intelligence-Sisira-Mendis.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-170479\" class=\"size-full wp-image-170479\" src=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Director-of-Sri-Lanka\u2019s-Centre-for-National-Intelligence-Sisira-Mendis.jpg\" alt=\"Sisira Mendis\" width=\"150\" height=\"195\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-170479\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sisira Mendis<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Sisira Mendis is currently in Geneva as part of a delegation to defend the government of Sri Lanka\u2019s adherence to the Convention Against Torture before the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=UN+Committee+Against+Torture&amp;x=14&amp;y=6\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">UN Committee Against Torture<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;According to the report of the UN\u2019s OHCHR Investigation on Sri Lanka, Mr. Mendis had command responsibility over police units known to routinely practice torture during the final period of the Sri Lankan civil war.&#8221; the BTF said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhile USTPAC and BTF are encouraged by the government of Sri Lanka\u2019s decision to engage the UN Committee Against Torture, we are dismayed that Mr. Mendis represents the government before the very UN Committee charged with ensuring governments stop torture,\u201d Dr. Karunyan Arulanantham, President of US Tamil Political Action Council (USTPAC), said. \u201cHis attendance in Geneva deeply disrespects Sri Lanka\u2019s torture victims and mocks the esteemed work of the Committee Against Torture.\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Mendis served as Deputy Inspector General of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and was also responsible for the Terrorism Investigation Division (TID) from March 2008 to June 2009. Both organizations are known for their routine use of torture.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c\u2026[Mendis\u2019] attendance in Geneva deeply disrespects Sri Lanka\u2019s torture victims and mocks the esteemed work of the Committee Against Torture&#8221;.\u00a0On the basis of universal jurisdiction, Dr. Karunyan Arulanantham added, \u201cwe call on the Swiss authorities to immediately detain and prevent Mr. Mendis from leaving Switzerland until there is a thorough investigation into the serious charges of torture against him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe government\u2019s brazen decision to send a known torturer to Geneva is a particularly egregious example of the culture of impunity that stubbornly persists in Sri Lanka. We strongly endorse the High Commissioner for Human Rights\u2019 recommendation in September 2015 to establish a hybrid court for Sri Lanka with international judges, prosecutors, lawyers and investigators,\u201d said Ravi Kumar, General Secretary of the British Tamils Forum (BTF). &#8220;Mr. Mendis\u2019 participation in Sri Lanka\u2019s torture review, and indeed the fact that he is now Director for National Intelligence, demonstrate that an internationalized court is needed now more than ever.&#8221; the BTF said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":170479,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,2186,1,2375],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-170478","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-featured-news","category-news","category-stories"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Immediately Detain Sri Lanka\u2019s National Intelligence Chief: Diaspora Tamils Tell Swiss Authorities - Colombo Telegraph<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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