Gotabaya Rajapaksa and the Matale District JVP Insurgency

Former Sri Lankan President and ex-defence secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa known generally as Gota figured prominently in an Associated Press (AP) news report dated June 22, 2023. According to AP, Gotabaya Rajapaksa has been accused of allegedly “tampering with police records in order to hamper investigations into mass graves discovered in an area where he was a military officer at the height of a bloody Marxist insurrection in 1989”. The allegation was made in a report released last week by activist groups including the International Truth and Justice Project, Journalists for Democracy and Families of the Disappeared in Sri Lanka. 

The report alleged that Gota Rajapaksa while serving as Defence Secretary under his brother President Mahinda Rajapaksa had “ ordered the destruction of all police records older than five years at police stations in the region after mass graves were discovered in the Matale District of central Sri Lanka in 2013.” 

The mass graves were suspected to date from the time of a violent Marxist insurrection in 1989, when Rajapaksa, as a military officer, was involved in counter-insurgency in the region. The report called for action against Rajapaksa and senior police officials involved in the alleged hampering of the investigations. 

It is well-known that Gotabaya Rajapaksa was appointed commanding officer of the 1st Battalion, Gajaba Regiment (1GR) and military coordinating officer of the Matale District during the second insurrection of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) which took place from 1987 to 1990.Gota reportedly functioned in Matale District from May 1989 to January 1990. “He (Gota) was posted to Matale as the District Coordinating Officer tasked with bringing the JVP under control,” wrote well-known journalist and former envoy to the UN in Geneva, C.A. Chandraprem in his biography “Gota’s War”.

There have been numerous allegations of enforced disappearances, arbitrary detentions, torture, and extra-judicial killings being committed by Government security forces between May 1989 and January 1990, in the Matale District, during the JVP uprising. Over 700 persons most of them Sinhalese allegedly disappeared then. There has been a complete lack of accountability and judicial action against the State authorities allegedly identified as perpetrators of the violations committed so far.

Joint UN Letter on Matale

In a significant development last year, four key representatives from UN-related agencies wrote a joint letter to Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe on November 8, 2022. The UN missive provided particulars about the Matale incidents of 1989/90 and requested a comprehensive response from the Sri Lankan Government. The UN joint letter was made available in the public domain on January 9, 2023. In keeping with certain protocols, the UN redacted the name of the official in charge of Matale District in 1989/90. Relevant paragraphs from the UN letter are reproduced below: 

“We have the honour to address you in our capacities as Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances; Working Group on Arbitrary Detention; Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions and Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of nonrecurrence. 

We would like to bring to the attention of your Excellency’s Government information we have received concerning the alleged enforced disappearances, arbitrary detentions, torture, and extra-judicial killings, reportedly committed by Government security forces between May 1989 and January 1990, in the Matale District, in the context of theJanatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) uprising. 

According to the information received: Between May 1989 and January 1990, Government security forces in the Matale District allegedly carried out enforced disappearances, arbitrary and unlawful detentions, and extra-judicial killings, in the context of escalating violence between the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) and the Government of Sri Lanka. 

It is reported that, during this period, the Government deployed then commanding officer of the 1st Battalion, Gajaba Regiment, as District Military Coordinating Officer of the Matale District, where he controlled all security forces deployed in the district, including intelligence forces. 

Commissions of Inquiry

Starting in 1989, Commissions of Inquiry were set up by the Government to investigate human rights violations that had reportedly occurred during, and subsequent to, the uprising. The Commissions received complaints alleging enforced disappearance, torture, extra-judicial killings, and arbitrary and lawful detentions that had been carried out by security forces in the Matale District. 

The information received points to and the security forces under his control (mostly the “Gajaba Regiment”) as the main perpetrators. According to the Commission’s reports, would have known about the scale of violence in the small district of Matale, which only had a population of 350,000 at the time. 

It is reported that four different Commissions of Inquiry investigated the enforced disappearances of persons that took place between May 1989 and January 1991. 

The Commissions documented 1,041 cases of enforced disappearance in the Matale District, from which more than 700 cases occurred between May 1989 and January 1990. 

The Commission’s also compiled a list of 24 alleged perpetrators of enforced disappearance in the Matale District. This list, however, was never published and was reportedly placed under a government secrecy order set up to run until 2030. 

The list includes army and police officers under his command who reportedly had been present at various detention sites, as well as schools and guest houses known as “notorious torture sites”. 

The Commission’s also documented instances of arbitrary and unlawful detention and torture (including sexual torture) of detainees. Commissions’ reports noted that it was well known at the time that people were stopped and detained at checkpoints, or as part of roundups and mass arrests in villages and were abducted by officials who identified themselves as belonging to the State security services using unmarked government vehicles. Those detained and abducted included young men and boys from villages in the Matale District. 

Vijaya College Army Camp

Evidence was also collected from former detainees who had survived detention in army or police custody at Vijaya College Army Camp and other places of detention in Matale District. Prisoners testified to being blindfolded and beaten, including while “being hung upside down”, and “being forced to inhale chilli fumes.” 

The Commissions documented one specific case of a victim who was arrested in September 1989 and held at Vijaya College Army camp for a period of 40 days and brutally tortured while in detention. The Commissions also collected evidence of extra-judicial killings of civilians during this period, many of whom would have been arbitrarily and unlawfully detained and taken into custody. 

The allegations received also refer to instances in which human remains of victims were left in fields or displayed on bridges. It is also reported that the alleged perpetrators have not been charged or tried and have continued to hold positions in the Government. 

While we do not wish to prejudge the accuracy of these allegations, we express our serious concern at the alleged enforced disappearances, arbitrary detentions, torture, and extra-judicial killings, reportedly committed by Government security forces between May 1989 and January 1990, in the Matale District, and the ensuing lack of accountability and judicial action against the alleged perpetrators of these human rights violations. 

While awaiting a reply, we urge that all necessary measures be taken to investigate and ensure the accountability of any person(s) responsible for the alleged violations. 

Please accept, Excellency, the assurances of our highest consideration.