Meeting of Families of the Disappeared disrupted, human rights defenders intimidated and targeted in a smear campaign

Human rights defender Ms Nimalka Fernando, President of the International Movement against All Forms of Discrimination and Racism (IMADR), was summoned and interrogated by police on 6 August 2014. The previous day, officers claiming to be from the Police Criminal Investigation Department had visited Mr Britto Fernando, the President of the Association for Families of the Disappeared, at his office in Negombo and had inquired about him. These incidents follow the violent disruption of a meeting of the Association for Families of the Disappeared held on 4 August 2014 in the office of the Centre for Society & Religion (CSR).

On 4 August 2014, a violent group of about 40 persons, including about eight people in Buddhist Monks' robes, forcibly stormed into the CSR building at around 2.30 pm during a meeting of the Families of the Disappeared with representatives of civil society organisations, Christian clergy, lawyers and diplomats. Human rights defender Britto Fernando was the main organiser of the meeting and Nimalka Fernando was one of the key participants.

The group of intruders hurled abuse and false allegations at the organisers and participants of the meeting, labelling them as supporters of “Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam” (LTTE). Some of the intruders started taking photographs of the meeting, which intimidated the participants as they feared reprisals would be taken against them and their families. After an hour, as the intruders did not leave, the priest-in-charge called the police to intervene. Instead of dispersing the unruly intruders, the police asked the organisers to cancel the meeting and send the participants to their homes. They also refused to provide the participants with protection. After a tense stand-off that lasted more than an hour, and in response to persistent demands from the organisers, the police finally managed to evict the intruders from the building. By about 5:30 pm, the intruders had eventually left the premises.

At around 11am on 5 August 2014, police in the city of Maradana visited CSR office and asked the priest-in-charge to provide details of those who came from the North for the meeting held there the previous day. The same day, at approximately 10 am, officers from the Police Criminal Investigation Department also visited Britto Fernando's office. The following day, 6 August, police summoned and questioned Nimalka Fernando.

Several members of the Families of the Disappeared who participated in the meeting also complained about intimidating behaviour prior to the meeting via phone calls from unidentified persons and/or from callers claiming to be from the Criminal Investigation Division (CID).

The Ministry of External Affairs issued an official statement on 5 August 2014 and it appeared to blame the organisers of the meeting, participants and the diplomatic community for the incident. It stated that a certain section of the diplomatic corps appeared to lack objectivity.

Furthermore, some of the intruders, who called themselves 'the Association of Families of Missing People from the South,' made several defamatory allegations at a press conference on 5 August 2014 triggering a smear campaign against human rights defenders. They stated that Nimalka Fernando and Britto Fernando were amongst those who had compromised the sovereignty of the country, and that human rights defender Mr Ruki Fernando, who was also present at the meeting, had recently given protection to LTTE cadres. This was in reference to events of March 2014, when Ruki Fernando was arrested in Killnochchi and detained for three days. He was subsequently banned from speaking to international media and ordered to hand over his sim card and computer to police.

In March 2012, state-affiliated media and government websites conducted a smear campaign against Nimalka Fernando and other human rights defenders, accusing them of treason, in connection with their advocacy work at the UN Human Rights Council. The Minister of Public Relations, Mr Meryn Silva, reportedly threatened human rights defenders with physical harm if they set foot back in Sri Lanka. He was reported to have said, “I will publicly break the limbs of people like Sunanda Deshapriya, Nimalka Fernando and Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu”.

Front Line Defenders is concerned about the ongoing intimidation of human rights defenders in northern Sri Lanka, their negative public portrayal and the disruption of their meetings, which appear all to be linked to their peaceful and legitimate human rights work.