SRI LANKA: DEATH THREATS CREATE AN ATMOSPHERE OF

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 COLOMBO 000133

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR SCA/INS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/23/2017
TAGS: PGOV PREL PTER PHUM MOPS CE
SUBJECT: SRI LANKA: DEATH THREATS CREATE AN ATMOSPHERE OF
INTIMIDATION


Classified By: Ambassador Robert O. Blake, Jr., for reasons 1.4(b,d).


1. (C) Summary. Death threats are aggravating the
atmosphere of intimidation in Sri Lanka. Twenty-two
individuals, mostly anti-war advocates and Liberation Tigers
of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) sympathizers, received death threats in
January from a shadowy Sinhalese ultra-nationalist group
called the "Gang of Evil Doers." On January 10, the German
Ambassador also received a death threat. The diplomatic
community and the Government of Sri Lanka (GSL) see these
threats as a form of harassment and intimidation. However -
in contrast to other groups who regularly use assassination
as a tool - there is little reason at present to think this
group will carry out its threats. End Summary.


2. (C) In early January, twenty-two individuals received an
e-mail containing a power point presentation in Sinhala
calling for their deaths. The group includes government
officials, politicians, businessmen, and journalists who are
either outspoken opponents of the war, or who have identified
the LTTE as "freedom fighters" rather than terrorists. The
first slide reads, "Let's identify the Sinhala traitors."
The next two slides show photos and names of the so-called
traitors. The final slide reads, "Kill them. Save our
Motherland."


3. (C) The logo of a group calling themselves Mahasohon
Kalliya, or Gang of Evil Doers, appears at the bottom of the
last slide. The group, also referred to by some as "Big
Devil," maintains a Web site at www.mahasohonkalliya.com.
The President of the group, Dammika Hettiarchchi, has a
Yahoo! group site at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ravanabrothers and a Web site
at www.ruhunuyaka.com. Ravana Brothers is a Sinhala
nationalist group whose name refers to the mythical King
Ravana of the Ramayana epic, a militant king who used devils
to kill his enemies. Ruhunuyaka, meaning Devil of the South,
is a third such nationalist group. These internet sites
feature an advertisement for a devil dance ceremony to invoke
curses on those who oppose war. The advertisement,
regrettably, also prominently features the logos of a
government-owned television station and two government-owned
radio stations that are co-sponsoring the event. These
groups' Web sites espouse the same political messages as the
Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP),Sri Lanka's largest and most
influential nationalist party. While there is no apparent
direct link between the three groups and the JVP, the
specific phrases used on the Web sites mirrors those used by
the JVP. These groups are clearly on the fringes of the
JVP-led nationalist movement, and evidence suggests they work
closely together.


4. (C) Separately, the German Ambassador on January 10
received a letter warning him not to "bully" Sri Lanka and
threatening to send him home "in a box" if he tries to "break
up this country." He also received a handwritten follow-up
note the next day with the same message. The German
Ambassador told DCM and RSO that the threat was obviously
meant to harass and intimidate him, but he does not consider
it serious. The German Embassy immediately contacted the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Sri Lankan police after
receiving the letter, and police presence in front of the
German Embassy was stepped up. Ambassador Blake received a
copy of the German Ambassador's death threat in the mail on
January 15. RSO interprets Ambassador Blake's receipt of the
letter as an attempt to intimidate the diplomatic community
as a whole, but perceives no direct threat to the Ambassador.
Ambassador concurs.


5. (C) COMMENT: While the proliferation of death threats
in the last few weeks is alarming, they almost certainly are
intended to harass and intimidate. The JVP and the groups
close to it have not been known to use assassination as a
tool since they ended their armed insurrection against the

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government in the late 1980s. The spectrum of targets --
journalists, businessmen, and even foreign diplomats -- shows
that the paranoid fringe of the nationalist movement is
casting a wide net in choosing its enemies. Nonetheless, one
cannot take death threats in Sri Lanka too lightly. There
are several groups that issue genuine death threats and carry
them out, including the Eelam People's Democratic Party
(EPDP) the Karuna faction (a splitoff from the LTTE) -- not
to mention the LTTE itself, which uses assassination, but
does not usually advertise its plans in advance, nor take
credit for its attacks afterwards.
BLAKE