Two Tamil political prisoners have died under ‘questionable circumstances’ inside the Sri Lankan Central Prision at Welikada in Borallea this week, civil sources in Colombo revealed on Friday. One of the prisoner’s wife, a native of Vaddukkoaddai, was informed by Jaffna police that her husband, 30-year-old Sinnaiah Devendran, had died three days ago while he was under going treatment at prison hospital.
Mr. Devendran, a native of Maskeliya in Up-country, was arrested after a bus bomb blast in Piliyandala. He was a garment factory worker.
The second Tamil prisoner is yet to be identified.
In 1983, 53 Tamil political prisoners were massacred inside Welikada and Magazine prisons.
In 2000, 28 Tamil detainees were killed inside the Bindunuwewa detention centre.
These are only reported massacres. But, Human Rights organisations and Tamil circles have accused that a very large number of such killings of Tamils have taken place while in custody of the armed forces of Sri Lanka.
A few days ago, when two Sinhala youth were killed in police custody in Angulana and when a Sinhala student was abducted and assaulted by the police, the public outcry and media flash made the Sri Lankan government to announce inquiry and arrest of suspects.
On Angulana killings of Sinhala youth, the Bishop of Colombo Rev. Duleep D Chickera, told Sunday Times: "Our society should recognise that the culture of impunity and extra-judicial violence experienced mostly by the Tamil community over the past several years has turned some of our police officers into victims of a vicious system. They are unable to behave differently because they do not know a better way."
When Tamil political prisoners are killed as with the present case and suspected being killed in large numbers without accounts, there is no way of mobilising public protests, Tamil circles said.
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