A Tamil has filed a fundamental rights application with Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court challenging his arrest and detention under the Prevention of Terrorism Act.
M. G. L. Vass states that he was arrested on March 13, at his residence in Kaduwela, by Gampaha Police on suspicion that he had been an important leader of the Liberation Tigers.
He was handed over to the Terrorism Investigation Department on March 23 and has since been detained under the PTA without being produced in court.
Vaas states that the police who came to his house to arrest him saw a photograph, displaying him in military uniform and carrying arms, hanging in his house.
The police mistook that he was a leading figure in the LTTE and released that photograph to the media stating that they had arrested an important leader of the LTTE who was hiding in Kaduwela area to launch a major attack, the application states.
Vaas claims that he worked for a security firm in Iraq and the photo depicted him after he had received military training from the US Defence Ministry.
He claims his training included the use of a sniper rifle, and that such military training was provided to a lot of people working in Iraq after the US invasion.
Vaas also claimed in his application to have been in possession of a permit to use arms, which was issued by the US Defence Ministry while he was in Iraq.
Vaas states that he was arrested and being kept in detention illegally because he is a Tamil, and claims the police violated his fundamental rights. He states that he was earlier married to a Sinhalese.
Vass asks for his release and compensation in the amount of 100 million rupees and cites the Director of the Terrorism Investigation Department, Officer-in-Charge of the Gampaha Police Station, Deputy Inspector General of Police for the Gampaha region, Deputy Inspector General of Police for the Western province, Inspector General of Police, Defence Ministry Secretary and Attorney General in his application.
