State minister for Prison Management and Prisoner’s Rehabilitation Lohan Ratwatte’s prison rampage at the start of the week was a momentary deviation from the doom and gloom of Covid. Ratwatte chose the perfect moment for his shenanigans, coinciding as it did with the start of the 48th UNHRC sessions in Geneva where the High Commissioner for Human Rights Michele Bachelet was giving an oral update on the trends and issues in Sri Lanka’s human rights situation. All was not well in her speech. The effects of the lack of accountability she noted, was telling on fundamental rights, civic space, democracy , social cohesion and sustainable development.
Ratwatte’s actions will fuel her future laments on Sri Lanka. The UN Resident Coordinator Hanaa Singer–Hamdy wasted no time adding weight to it with her tweet that it is the duty of the state as per the Mandela Rules to protect the rights of prisoners. She said ‘the UN in Sri Lanka works to strengthen capacities to uphold the rights of all those in custody and condemns ill treatment’.
Last Sunday, Ratwatte and his band of merry men and a woman broke in to the Welikadaprison with impunity for a tour of the gallows. Inside Welikada, they performed for an audience of jailers and prisoners who would at best been bemused to see their minister pay them a surprise visit in less than formal attire for an inebriated grovel on the floor. At worst, the prospect must have been a nerve wracking one. Ratwatte’s alleged hallmark is that of a gun toting man. Their next stop a helicopter ride away was Anuradhapura prison where coincidentally, he allegedly chose LTTE prisoners to kneel before him and threatenedthem with death with his personal firearm. The JVP and TNA want to know how the minister was allowed to take a firearm into the prison. Details of the helicopter that was used are stillhazy and are important as a matter of public interest in a scenario which went awry with a government minister in tow. Whether the helicopter was a military or civilian one is a key piece of information on which clarity is required. The use of a military helicopter, a rare situation by a state minister, will raise serious questions of accountability. In any event, the use of either type of helicopter will require clearances from air traffic control and air defence from the point of take– off. Sri Lanka has a handful of places where helicopters take off from, the Ratmalana airport being the most popular. Before taking flight, the flight plan and manifest have to be lodged with the point of take– off. The flying hours are usually between sunrise and sunset. There could be variations to these requirements if special permission has been granted for a flight.
This is not the first time that Ratwatte has left a trail of mayhem and whatever censure he has received has not been commensurate with it. He is the son of former deputy defence minister Anuruddha Ratwatte who was an uncle of former president Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunge. These political connections have emboldened Ratwatte and cushioned his many falls. Tamil political parties have come together to ensure it will be a closed book case this time. They were the first off the mark to name and shame Ratwatte as the minister who stormed the prisons. Jaffna MP and Tamil National Peoples’Front (TNPF) President GajendrakumarPonnambalam confirmed it was Ratwatte who had forced two Tamil political prisoners to kneel before him and threatened to kill them on the spot. He called for his immediate resignation and for him to be stripped of all his portfolios. He renewed his appeal to the UNHRC to refer Sri Lanka to the International Criminal Court because he feared the plight of Tamil victims will deteriorate more if not. The Tamil National Alliance has called for his arrestfor which the Committee for Protecting Rightsof Prisoners (CPRP) set the stage with a complaint to the CID. His behaviour they alleged amount to offences of threatening to kill with a firearm, contempt of court for intimidating prisoners who are under the jurisdiction of the court and intimidating selected prisoners in violation of the provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Following the CPRP complaint the Minister for Public Security SarathWeerasekera has instructed the Inspector General of Police to inquire into the incident.
The CPRP has also asked the CID to arrest the two prison commissioners, ThusharaUpuldeniya and Chandana Ekanayake, along with Ratwatte. They have both remained tightlipped and denied knowledge of the incident. The devout show of allegiance to their minister by these two officers who hold the highest positions in the prisons network, raise questions about their independence and impartiality when carrying out their functions and even worse, their integrity. As part of their complaint to the CID, the CPRP has also flagged the risk of CCTV records of the episodes being erased.
Under pressure from Tamil political parties andthe media, Ratwatte was pushed to act. Although he resigned from his post of State Minister for Prisons Management and theresignation was accepted by the President, it is a partial resignation. Ratwatte is also the State Minister for Gem and Jewelry Related Industries and he continues to hold this portfolio. Despite his excesses, he essentially remains a minister whose salary is paid with public money. A speedy statement about his resignation, issued by the Presidents Media Division, sealed his fate after it said that Ratwatte had acknowledged his actions and had stepped down. Ratwatte has been making convoluted statements to the media since then, claiming he was in the Anuradhapura prison but did not intimidate the prisoners the way it is being claimed and that he stepped down to prevent the government from being disgraced.
The media reported widely that the female who was with Ratwatte on the day was Pushpika De Silva, reigning Mrs Sri Lanka for Mrs World. She has denied the report and is threatening to sue one TV station, instrumental in bringing President Gotabaya Rajapakse to power, for slander. De Silva herself is no stranger to scandal. Early this year, she was in the eye of a storm where it was alleged she flouted the regulations of the Mrs World beauty pageant by misrepresenting her marital status. After being crowned on stage as the country’s representative at the global contest, she was almost immediately de crowned by her predecessor in front of a stunned auditorium of spectators. Although the crown was subsequently restored to her, she is still dogged by questions about her eligibility for the title and a run in with the law at this juncture will decimate her chances of contesting the world title. However, the CPRP put her in an awkward place by reaffirming that she was with Ratwatte in Welikada.
Ratwatte’s antecedents are far from whiter than white. Among them is the 1997 alleged shooting and death of Joel Pera, a rugby player of Papua New Guinean origin who was playing for the Havelocks Sports Club, in a casino in Colombo. The commonly held belief is that the CID allegedly hushed up the case. In 2006, Ratwatte, his father and brother Chanuka were acquitted of all charges in the Udathalawinna murder trialin which they and ten security guards were accused of shooting dead ten Muslim youth who were supporters of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress. Five security guards of Ratwatte’s father who were security forces personnel were sentenced to death instead. In January this year, Ratwatte made the headlines again after he allegedly started a shootout in the W15 boutique hotel in Hantana in Kandy. Ratwatte’s penchant for election violence, is legendary. Yet, despite his violent past which also includes stints of incarceration, President Gotabaya Rajapakse gave him the ultra-sensitive job of managing the prisons which begs reasoning.
Ratwatte is a Mahinda Rajapakse loyalist and the investigations into his actions will take place at a time when the President will be away attending the United National General Assembly sessions in New York and when Mahinda Rajapakse will be returning to the country after attending the interfaith symposium at the University of Bologna amidst unanswered questions about who footed the bill of his 17 plus entourage. At a time the integrity of Sri Lanka’s rule of law and officials upholding it are being criticized and plans are underway by civil society and other to bring them under scrutiny to prevent a slide into anarchy, ensuring due process will be key to restoring a semblance of trust in what the human rights commissioner called the ‘eroding confidence in the rule of law and judicial process’.
Meanwhile, in an unprecedented development, the Elections Commission (EC) which met yesterday under the chairmanship of NimalPunchihewa has decided to write to the Speaker in Parliament requesting him to take action in the matter. They arrived at their decision after discussing it at length and on the suggestion of one of its members who pointed out that the matter has to be brought to the attention of the Speaker. This is the first time the EC has ventured into the domain of disciplining legislators. In the past, they had intervened in a dispute in the Maharagama Urban Council and had settled it.
