SLA officials accused of taking bribes from Vanni detainees

[TamilNet, Saturday, 30 May 2009, 23:11 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) high officials in charge of the internment camps in Jaffna, where Vanni civilians are held, are alleged to be taking bribes ranging from 50,000 to 100,000 rupees to free the youths among the detainees, according to complaints made by the detainees to Human Rights Organizations (HRC) in Jaffna. SLA authorities in Jaffna, however, continue to refute such allegations.

Vanni detainees, anxious for the safety of the young men and women, manage to free them and send them out of the peninsula by bribing the SLA officials directly in charge of the internment camps in Jaffna peninsula.

The parents who have relatives abroad bribe the SLA officials to have their children freed from detention.

The bribed officials arrange travel pass to be issued to the youths so that they could leave Jaffna peninsula.

Though the detainees have complained of this matter no one has made any written complaints so far, HRC sources said.

Many Tamils who had sought protection for their lives and held in the protective custody of Jaffna Prison had managed to leave the peninsula by bribing SLA officials, sources in Jaffna said.

In the SLA internment camps in Vavuniyaa parents, whose sons and daughters had been taken away by SLA soldiers and SLA-backed paramilitaries, are forced to pay large sums of money as bribe to free them, the sources added.