THE SRI LANKAN NAVY: A COLLECTIVE BLIND EYE OCT 2019 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Our heartfelt thanks go out to the survivors of the Gun Site dungeons who bravely spoke to us, as well as to the other victims of violations committed by members of the Sri Lankan Navy. This report has taken six years and required enormous patience on the part of the victims. We couldn’t have done this work without the invaluable contribution of many Sinhalese – extraordinary researchers, translators, interpreters and the insider witnesses. Among them decent military oficers who would like to see their country’s security establishment reformed so that it is something of which they can be proud. “I WANT THOSE WHO DID THIS TO ME BROUGHT TO JUSTICE.” (GUN SITE TORTURE SURVIVOR) INDEX INTRODUCTION 6 METHODOLOGY 8 A. NAVY COMMAND STRUCTURE 10 1. BACKGROUND 2. ORGANISATION 3. NAVY INTELLIGENCE IN THE NAVY COMMAND STRUCTURE B. TRINCOMALEE 11 ABDUCTION COURT CASE 13 1. BACKGROUND 2. ABDUCTIONS AND VICTIM PROFILES 3. THE POLICE INVESTIGATION 4. AN EMBLEMATIC CASE ? 5. UNITED NATIONS 6. SEPARATE BUT LINKED CASES C. THE TRINCOMALEE TORTURE SITE 22 1. THE TRINCOMALEE NAVAL COMPLEX 2. NAVAL INTELLIGENCE AND SECURITY AT TRINCOMALEE 3. SPECIAL INTELLIGENCE UNIT OF NAVY 4. ILLEGAL DETENTION AT GUN SITE (I) SITE LAYOUT (II) TIME PERIOD DURING WHICH THE SITE WAS IN OPERATION (III) PROFILE OF DETAINEES (IV) NUMBER OF DETAINEES 5.TORTURE 6.DETENTION CONDITIONS 7.DISAPPEARANCES: WGEID VISIT TO SITE. D. SENIOR NAVAL OFFICERS’ KNOWLEDGE OF CRIMES 34 E. SHORTCOMINGS AND INTERFERENCE IN 40 TRINCOMALEE 11 ABDUCTION CASE F OTHER TORTURE SITES 42 G. CONCLUSION 44 H. RECOMMENDATIONS 46 REPORT ENDNOTES 51 1. PROFILES OF SUSPECTS 60 RC WIJEGUNARATNE’S PROFILE WKJ KARANNAGODA'S PROFILE DKP DASSANAYAKE’S PROFILE SAMPATH MUNASINGHE’S PROFILE HMPCK HETTIARACHCHI’S PROFILE RPS RANASINGHE’S PROFILE 2. BIOGRAPHIES OF NAVAL OFFICERS 74 3. THE AVANT GARDE GROUP 81 4. HUMAN SMUGGLING BY SEA 89 5. LIST OF RECENT INTERNATIONAL INTERACTION WITH 91 THE SRI LANKAN NAVY ANEXURE ENDNOTES 95 2 NAVY COMMANDERS Initially accused in Avant Garde corruption case before being released because of the manner in which the case was filed was found to be against the law . ADMIRAL WASANTHA KUMAR 1971 JAYADEWA KARANNAGODA Joined the Navy. 2 September 2005 – 14 July 2009 (also see dossier) JUL 2009 Adviser to the President on National Security. MAR 2011 – 2015 Ambassador to Japan. 5 AUG 2019 Promoted to Admiral of the Fleet. TRAINED: UK, US, Pakistan. ADMIRAL THISARA S. G. SAMARASINGHE 2002 7 JUN 2008-15 MAY 2009 15 July 2009 – 14 January 2011 Commander, Southern Naval Area. Deputy Chief of Naval Staf. DEC 2005 16 MAY-14 JUL 2009 Acting Commander, Northern Chief of Staf of the Navy. Naval Area. 15 JUL 2009-14 JAN 2011 2006 Navy Commander. Director General Operations – Naval HQ. 2011-2015 High Commissioner to Australia. 2007 Commander, Eastern Naval Area. 2017 Colombo International Nautical and 2008 Engineering College. Commander, Northern Naval Area. TRAINED: UK, India, USA. ADMIRAL DISSANAYAKE WIJESINGHE 1 JUN 1977 JUL 2009 ARACHCHILAGE SOMATILAKE DISSANAYAKE Joined Navy. Chief of Staf. 15 January 2011 – 26 September 2012 1998-2001 2012 Defence Attaché, India. Retired. 8 JAN 2008-6 JAN 2009 2016 Director General Operations Accused in Avant Garde case. FINAL WAR: SEP 2019 Spearheaded Naval operations in the Released from the Avant Garde case. North. TRAINED: India, UK, USA. 3 ADMIRAL JAYANATH S. K. COLOMBAGE 1978: to the President on Maritime and 27 September 2012 – 30 June 2014 Joined the Navy. Naval Hub. 2002: 2016: Commander of Southern Naval Area. Accused in Avant Garde case. 2004 ONWARDS: APR 2019: Director General Services; Director Among Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s inner Naval Projects & Plans; Naval circle of senior military advisors. Assistant to Commander of the Navy; Principal Staf Oficer of the Joint SEP 2019: Operations Headquarters under Chief Released from the Avant Garde case. of Defence Staf. 2019: 1 JAN 2010 -26 SEP 2012: Director of the Pathfinder Commander, Eastern Naval Area. Foundation’s Centre for Indo-Lanka Initiatives and Law of the Sea, 29 OCT 2013: International Advisory Group. Chairman of Ceylon Shipping Corporation while Navy Commander. TRAINED: UK, India and China. JUL 2014: Adviser to Maritime Group; Adviser ADMIRAL S.A.M. JAYANTHA PERERA “The CID yesterday told Colombo Commander, Western Naval Area. June 2014 – July 2015 Additional Magistrate Shehani Perera that the Navy Hierarchy including 2011 former Navy Commander Jayantha Naval Operations Director General. Perera and Intelligence Division Director Ananda Guruge had knowledge 2016 about the abductions that took place Accused in Avant Garde case. in Colombo and suburbs during 2009.” SEP 2019 1978 Released from the Avant Garde case. Joined the Navy. TRAINED: 2006 India, Pakistan, UK, USA. Deputy Area Commander, Eastern Naval Area. 2007 Commander, Southern Naval Area. 2008 ADMIRAL R. C. WIJEGUNARATNE 1980 11 July 2015 – 17 August 2017 Joined the Navy. 7 JUL 2014-11 JUL 2015 (See also dossier) Chief of Staf. 1993 Established the Special Boat 11 JUL 2015-21 AUG 2017 Squadron . Navy Commander. UNKNOWN: 22 AUG 2017 Defence Adviser to the Sri Lanka Chief of Defence Staf. High Commission in India . 27 NOV 2018 3 APR 2006-26 JUL 2007 Arrested in court case B9527/18 for Commandant, Naval and Maritime assisting an absconding suspect; Academy, Trincomalee . released on bail. 27 JUL 2007 22 AUG 2019 Director, Naval Operations . Term extended as Chief of Defence 1 JAN-30 JUL 2008 Staf until year end . Director Naval Operations; Director Naval Foreign Co-operation; Director TRAINED: Naval Marine Special Forces . UK (Britannia Royal Naval College, Dartmouth), Pakistan, India, USA. 8 OCT-31 DEC 2012 Commander, Eastern Naval Area. 4 ADMIRAL TRAVIS JEREMY 1982 1 JAN 2016-26 MAY 2016 LIYANDURU SINNIAH Joined the Navy. Commander, Eastern Naval Area. 22 August 2017 - 26 Oct 2017 27 JUL 2007-4 APR 2009 16 AUG 2016-31 DEC 2016 Commandant, Naval and Maritime Flag Oficer. Academy, Trincomalee. 1 JAN 2016-30 MAY 2016 2008-9 Volunteer Naval Force. Deputy Area Commander. 26 OCT 2017 5 APR 2009-8 AUG 2009 Retired. Director Naval Project and Plans. TRAINED: 22 SEP 2009-13 FEB 2010 UK (Britannia Royal Naval College, Naval Assistant. Dartmouth), US, India. JUL 2011 US Embassy Defence Co-operation Oficer. ADMIRAL SIRIMEVAN SARATHCHANDRA 1982 14 AUG 2010-END 2011 RANASINGHE Joined the Navy. Director Naval Project & Plans 26 October 2017 – 31 December 2018 2002-2004 2012 Commanded Fast Attack Squadron. Southern Naval Command 22 JAN 2007-26 JUL 2007 25 MAR 2013-UNKNOWN DATE IN 2014 Director, Naval Operations. Commander, Western Naval Area; Commandant, Volunteer Naval Force. 2008 Deputy Area Commander, Southern 23 JUL 2014-END 2014 Naval Area. Director General, Coast Guard. 31 JUL-31 DEC 2008 11 JUL 2015-25 OCT 2017 Director Naval Operations; Director Chief of Staf. Naval Foreign Cooperation; Director Naval Marine Special Forces. MAR 2019 Secretary to the Ministry of Ports, 1 JAN-1 APR 2009 Shipping and Southern Development . Director Naval Operations, Director Naval Weapons, Director Special TRAINED: Boat Squadron & Rapid Action Boat India, Pakistan , UK (Britannia Squadron; Director, Eastern Naval Royal Naval College, Dartmouth). Area. 5 APR 2009-13 AUG 2010 Commandant, Naval and Maritime Academy, Trincomalee REAR ADMIRAL KKV PIYAL HARISCHANDRA 1984 DE SILVA Joined the Navy. 2015-16 1 January 2019 – present Commanded Special Boat Squadron. Commander, Northern Naval area. 30 SEP 2012 2018 Deputy Commander, Eastern Director General, Operations. Naval Area. 2 JUL 2018-31 DEC 2018 2013 Chief of Staf. Commander, Southern Naval Area. 1 JAN 2019 2014 Navy Commander (given 1-year Commander, North-western Naval Area. extension July 2019) . TRAINED: US, China 5 INTRODUCTION “THE GENERAL RESPONSE naval base in which scores of corroborated its existence 1 WAS THAT NOTHING COULD people were illegally detained . after visiting the location in There is no doubt that senior November 2015. BE DONE AND THAT naval commanders knew or should A COLLECTIVE BLIND EYE have known of the existence of The change of government in Sri this illegal detention site Lanka in 2015, resulted in the SHOULD BE MAINTAINED”. – perimeter security for the Sri Lankan police revitalising Trincomalee naval base was their investigation into the (NAVAL OFFICER AT TRINCOMALEE) extremely tight and even junior enforced disappearance of eleven oficers knew of the existence of men abducted by the Navy in This report examines the the torture chambers which were 2008 and 2009. The men had been complicity of the Sri Lankan discussed in hushed tones in the illegally detained first in naval Navy in illegal detentions, oficers’ mess. headquarters in Colombo and torture and enforced then in the Trincomalee naval disappearances over many Trincomalee is yet another base’s underground torture site. years. It finds a large swathe example of torture chambers Bizarrely this investigation of the naval high command was in one of the most strategic had first begun in 2009 when complicit in the violations security sites in the country. then Navy Commander Admiral or directly responsible for The International Truth and Wasantha Karannagoda ordered them. On 28 Nov 2018, former Justice Project (ITJP) has his Aide de Camp (ADC) Sampath Navy Commander and current already extensively documented Munasinghe to be investigated, Chief of Defence Staf, Admiral endemic torture during and after after he reportedly received Ravindra Wijegunaratne – the the war, in “Joseph Camp”, the an allegation – denied by all highest-ranking military oficer main army garrison for the parties - that the ADC had in the Sri Lankan Armed Forces north, situated in the heart of been having an afair with - was arrested and remanded Vavuniya Town2. his wife Ashoka Karannagoda. into custody for obstructing Investigators found four of the a high-profile investigation The existence of an underground identity cards of the eleven into some of these violations.