The centre was managed by the National Youth Services Council. Troubles began on 24 October, after the detainees protested against long detention. They had also complained that letters addressed to them were not being delivered and they were not allowed telephone calls. An Army unit that arrived from the military base at Diyatalawa, five miles south-west, was withdrawn after a settlement was reached.
At dawn on 25 October, a mob armed with machetes, knives and clubs stormed the centre and pounced on the sleeping inmates. Youths who fled were hunted down. The centre was set ablaze along with several of the bodies and survivors say some were thrown alive into the fire. Colombo newspaper Sunday Leader columnist DBS Jeyaraj says medical staff at Bandarawela hospital refused to treat the wounded.
The Sri Lankan Human Rights Commission (HRC), visiting the scene, found evidence that did not support the claims of the officer-in-charge that the detainees ran amok and caused extensive damage, although some damage was done. HRC also heard evidence that on 24 October, posters had appeared in Bandarawela town inciting the local people to violence against the inmates of the rehabilitation centre. Hill Country observers suspect that nationalist organisations such as Weeravidhana and Sihala Urumaya (Sinhala heritage), which have been whipping up racial sentiments, were behind the poster campaign.
The HRC says that some 60 policemen present at the time of the attack were guilty of grave dereliction of duty in failing to take effective action to prevent the deaths. None among the mob had a gun. But the police were fully armed with firearms. According to other human rights agencies in Colombo, one of the victims, now in hospital, had sustained gunshot injuries.
The police rounded-up some 200 Sinhalese people at Bindunawewa and began intimidating some of them to confess to the crime, but were forced to release all, after other villagers surrounded the police station. The villagers insist they maintained good relations with the detainees and were not involved.
Bandarawela Police Superintendent BM Premaratne admitted that the arrests had only the effect of ‘thwarting any purposeful process of investigation’. The HRC declared that the evidence gathered is consistent with premeditated and planned attack and has called for a fair, impartial and effective investigation. The HRC also urges appropriate and deterrent disciplinary action against the errant officers irrespective of rank.
Emergency regulations empower the Defence Secretary to send a detainee under the regulations or the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), to rehabilitation and also decide the period of rehabilitation. Members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) surrendering to the security forces must be sent for rehabilitation. In addition, a court may extend the period of rehabilitation of a surrendee who has been found guilty. The detainees at Bindunawewa rehabilitation centre were young Tamil men between 11 and 23, who had been arrested or surrendered as suspected members of the LTTE.
President Chandrika Kumaratunge condemned the attack, blaming “outsiders” and immediately dispatched two teams from Colombo for investigation. Two soldiers and 14 policemen were later detained. The Bandarawela magistrate S Kaluarachchi overruled a police claim that because national security issues were involved, the inquest proceedings on 27 October should be held in camera and ordered a public enquiry.
Observers are doubtful that a full probe will be held and say Tamil prisoners have been attacked many times before. Thirty five Tamils were massacred by other prisoners on 27 July 1983 in the maximum security Welikade prison in Colombo. Two days later, 18 inmates were killed in the same prison. No enquiry was held into the murders.
Three detainees were hacked to death by Sinhalese prisoners in Kalutara prison, 25 miles south of Colombo, on 12 December 1997. A presidential commission concluded investigations in April 1998, but its report remains unpublished. Two Tamils were killed in the same prison in January 2000. The enquiry has effectively been shelved.
While Sri Lankan people and organisations expressed revulsion, international condemnation over the killings was swift and severe. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan expressed profound distress and three US Congressmen of the House International Relations Committee called on Secretary of State Madeleine Albright to support an international investigation.
In an open letter to President Chandrika, Amnesty International urged a comprehensive review of the detention regime, including provisions of the PTA and Emergency regulations. Amnesty points out that the regulations allow the Defence Secretary to detain a person indefinitely for rehabilitation. It is possible for people detained for preventive or investigative reasons to find themselves in lengthy detention under the Secretary’s rehabilitation orders.