Detainees in Sri Lanka are routinely tortured, but the government is not credibly investigating the allegations, Amnesty International said as it demanded the prosecution of the security officials involved.Sri Lanka has legislation against torture, but no effective way to implement it, Yolanda Foster, the rights group's Sri Lanka expert, said in a statement released Monday.
Amnesty International issued a report on Sri Lanka ahead of a review by the U.N. Committee Against Torture on Tuesday.
"There is no longer an independently functioning unit investigating torture allegations leveled against the security forces, which calls into question Sri Lanka's commitment to ending this abhorrent practice," Foster said.
The rights group accuses police, military personnel, paramilitary forces and prison guards of routinely beating and torturing detainees. It said that during the first 14 years of the anti-torture legislation, only three prosecutions were reportedly made under the police Special Investigation Unit, which has since been sidelined.
Amnesty International said that in 2008, the government claimed 42 indictments against 90 people stemming from torture investigations in the prior four years. But the group said most of those cases never went to trial.
The group said detainees have been held arbitrarily for prolonged periods, sometimes years, without charge and that most of them are eventually released for lack of evidence. It said those tortured include criminal suspects and people with alleged links with the now defeated separatist Tamil Tiger rebels.
A number of suspects have died while in police custody in the last few months. Last month, people attacked and seriously damaged a police station after a youth died while in custody.
Amnesty International issued a report on Sri Lanka ahead of a review by the U.N. Committee Against Torture on Tuesday.
"There is no longer an independently functioning unit investigating torture allegations leveled against the security forces, which calls into question Sri Lanka's commitment to ending this abhorrent practice," Foster said.
The rights group accuses police, military personnel, paramilitary forces and prison guards of routinely beating and torturing detainees. It said that during the first 14 years of the anti-torture legislation, only three prosecutions were reportedly made under the police Special Investigation Unit, which has since been sidelined.
Amnesty International said that in 2008, the government claimed 42 indictments against 90 people stemming from torture investigations in the prior four years. But the group said most of those cases never went to trial.
The group said detainees have been held arbitrarily for prolonged periods, sometimes years, without charge and that most of them are eventually released for lack of evidence. It said those tortured include criminal suspects and people with alleged links with the now defeated separatist Tamil Tiger rebels.
A number of suspects have died while in police custody in the last few months. Last month, people attacked and seriously damaged a police station after a youth died while in custody.
