LTTE torture chamber reveals prisoners -:

Chained, tortured and cremated

By Shanika SRIYANANDA

“I am”.... He may be trying to write some information about him but he could write only those two words on the greasy wall of the hell like cell.

“Oh, God never allow anyone to suffer like this”, another has written on another cell.

Another has marked the dates and the last date marked was January 14, 2009.

Two days after, the three together with another 23 breathed their last.

The story of them could remained a mystery forever unless the defence authorities did not unearth the information during an interrogation of a former LTTE cadre now in custody.

Let’s call him ‘Ram’. He led a group of 60 experts including forensic experts into the dense jungle stretch, eight kilometers away from Vallipunam village, in Mullaithivu. The green cover is a safe haven for any activity.

It was only last Tuesday that he was brought to the jungle hideout, which was a torture chamber of the LTTE for some years. Ram recalling the heinous crimes committed in that so-called ‘Victor base 1’ showed the experts the row of small cells each barely bigger than a small toilet.

Ram, who is now in custody of the Terrorist Investigation Department of the Police, started revealing the ‘crime’ - killing of 26 ‘prisoners of war’ (PoWs) by LTTE gunmen.

The police investigators had taken another three suspects into custody in connection with the mass killing. According to Ram, who lived in ‘Lindula’ estate in Thalawakele he had gone to Puthukudiruppu for a funeral but could not return as the LTTE had forcefully taken him to a LTTE training camp and given a short military training.

Having fought in several areas, he was sent to the Victor Base 1, where the 26 PoWs were detained. Ram in his 30s and well versed in Sinhala language said he was among the LTTE cadres including 14 Black Tigers, who were there to look after the 26 prisoners.

According to his testimony, the 26 PoWs were not there throughout but brought from different places of LTTE’s torture chambers while the LTTE was losing its stronghold in the North due to military assault.

Some, Ram said, were taken in pairs out of the camp for interrogation but never returned and some died due to illnesses while in custody.

He said there were 18 sailors and eight soldiers who were captured from time to time in military confrontations.

The prisoners were given food and water three times a day. Water was provided to the cell’s door-step but they did not have toilet facilities.

The cells were only opened twice a month.

Each prisoner was chained with welded iron rings around their feet and again chained to another.

There was a mobile cell like a kennel made out of iron bars and has space for 10 persons. Ram said when questioning they were taken in that mobile cell.

The camp was highly guarded and three barbed wire fences were erected.

A swathe of Anti Personnel mines was laid next to the fences around the camp. No human settlement was left in the vicinity of the camp which was six kilometers away from Puthukudiruppu. The base was under the command of the LTTE’s Deputy Intelligence Head Ratnum Master.

It was January 13, 2009 that a group of female cadres of the ‘Sothiya’ regiment accidentally ran through this base as their FDL was attacked by the military. Ram said those female cadres may be the first group of ordinary cadres that came to know about this camp as it was kept as a top secret known only to a handful of LTTE leadership. Ram said only the trustworthy LTTE cadres were deployed to the camp, which escaped the hi-tech senses of the UAVs due to its thick foliage cover.

Next day, Ratnum Master, who came to the camp, set the time for a special operation following the instructions of Prabhakaran who ordered to kill all PoWs. Some Black Tigers were made ready in vital locations for suicide missions to prevent infiltration by the soldiers.

It was 6.15 in the evening when the first pair of PoWs was shot dead on the edge of a bunker by Ram. The second pair was brought in. Ram pleaded to free the young soldier, which whom he had a secret friendship.

The soldier was captured during an attack and Ram was assigned to guard the captives. He treated his wounds and they became friends as Ram could communicate in Sinhala.

Ram kept this as a secret and the soldier never asked his LTTE friend to help him escape. Ram did not have a say and Ratnum Master chased him away. Another killer was assigned to shoot the pair while Ram was locked in the cab.

The sailors and soldiers, who never pleaded for freedom, that day too never, asked for freedom. Except for one soldier, all as brave as ever embraced death. One young soldier when shooting turned his head and missed the bullet. But the second bullet ripped through his forehead.

Ratnum Master told the cadres that Prabhakaran had asked not to leave any evidence and finished the killing, as the army was progressing rapidly into their domain. The 26 PoWs were killed in two locations in the camp and gunfire was not heard by any as the location was too far from the villages.

One cadre was asked to collect spent bullets. The bodies laid in the bunker were burnt using diesel and sugar.

Another cadre was ordered by Ratnum Master to collect iron chains that remained on dead bodies once they were fully burnt. The whole tragic drama ended at 7 p.m.

On instructions of Ratnum Master, all vital evidence of the PoWs, even their clothes, were burnt. The terrorists then abandoned the camp and fled in three vehicles including in Ratnum Master’s cab.

Ram said though the sailors and soldiers did not plead for life they had hopes that the military would capture the camp and rescue them. They were confident that the military would defeat the LTTE soon.

During the final days of the battle Ram and four other cadres fled Puthumathalan as displaced civilians. They were sent to the welfare centre in Vavuniya and one was taken into custody on suspicion. Later, the rest were taken into custody by the TID following his information.

With the emergence of torture chambers in the Victor Base 1, a big question remains unanswered.

Why were the so-called international humanitarian agencies deaf and blind about this torture chamber?

For several years, they were in Kilinochchi and Mullaithivu and had the blessings of the terrorists to reach all corners of the villages in their humanitarian missions.

The military had captured a prison in Vishwamadu but the cells were spacious ‘luxury’ rooms with attached bathrooms. While the majority of PoWs were tortured and made to live in hell-like environs, the LTTE had also eye-washed the international community to showcase the PoWs by keeping them in clean cells when the international agencies visited them to show that the LTTE terrorists honour international laws.

But, it is certain that some international agencies deliberately turned a blind eye for all acts of terrorism of the LTTE under their protective cover and sympathy. Now the time has come for such human rights agencies to focus on unearthing these crimes to show the world how the LTTE had dishonoured international norms.

Though the terrorists have no mercy and do not respect the international norms, nature would not tolerate the heinous crimes committed under her wings. The secret mass killing in thick jungles of the Vallipunam is no more a secret and it has opened up some vital issues that need to be answered.

A forensic team that excavated the two grave sites has found some remains - a powdery substance, believed to be human ashes, pieces of cloth and some parts of human bones and brought back to Colombo in 24 gunny bags.

The experts are carrying out further forensic investigations.

A high ranking Police officer of the TID told the Sunday Observer that according to their initial investigations, according to the ex-LTTE cadres that interrogated, 18 sailors and eight army soldiers were shot dead, burnt and cremated in the grave sites in January 2009 in the Vallipunam jungles in Mullaithivu.

He said following the orders of the LTTE leadership more military personnel who were under the LTTE’s custody might have killed during the last stages of the final battle before they abandoned those camps in the LTTE strongholds in Kilinochchi and Mullaithivu districts.“ We have received some vital information about these camps while interrogating the ex-LTTE cadres”, he said.

According to the official, the bodies were burnt using diesel and sugar to prevent any traces of ashes.

The expert team includes the forensic, archaeological, survey and soil experts. The team of forensic led by the Chief Judicial Medical Officer Colombo Dr. Ananda Samarasekara and the TID conducted the investigations under the directions of TID Director DIG Nimal Wakishta.