• Prisons Dept. unaware of any missing inmates 

The Committee for Protecting the Rights of Prisoners (CPRP) has requested the Office on Missing Persons (OMP) to investigate the alleged disappearance of three inmates who were reportedly being held at the Negombo Prison before unrest at the Facility earlier this month (July), claiming that their whereabouts remain unknown.

In a letter addressed to the OMP, the Committee's Executive Director, attorney Senaka Perera said that the three prisoners were in State custody before the unrest on 5 and 6 July and that 23 days had passed without their families or lawyers receiving any official information about where they are being held or whether they are alive. He alleged that the circumstances amount to a possible enforced disappearance under the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance Act, No. 5 of 2018. 

"Authorities have a legal obligation to disclose the whereabouts of detainees and maintain proper records on transfers, deaths and places of detention." The Committee has asked the OMP to obtain details of the officers who authorised the prisoners' detention and any subsequent transfers, the dates and locations of those transfers, their current place of detention, their health condition, and whether any of them had died. It has also requested information on when family members and lawyers would be allowed to meet the inmates and called for an independent investigation into the allegations.

According to the letter, the three missing inmates have been identified as Nishan Lakmal, Rajendra Amalan Indika and Venezuelan national Walquer Florencio Martinez Nuñez. The Committee stated that repeated attempts by relatives and lawyers to trace them through prisons and other institutions had failed, despite inquiries made after the Prison unrest.

However, when contacted by The Daily Morning, Prisons Commissioner and Spokesperson, A C Gajanayake said that he is not aware of any disappearance. "I’m not aware of any disappearance. If there is any such incident, the Superintendent of the Prison informs us when submitting reports. However, there has been no such report. We’ve been informed of the number of prisoners who died, the number transferred to other prisons, and the number who are still at the Negombo Prison, but nothing like this."