AMBASSADOR PRESENTS LIST OF ALLEGED ABDUCTIONS TO

C O N F I D E N T I A L COLOMBO 000463 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR SCA/INS, USPACOM FOR FPA E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/20/2017 TAGS: PREL PHUM CE SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR PRESENTS LIST OF ALLEGED ABDUCTIONS TO PRESIDENTIAL ADVISOR REF: COLOMBO 413 Classified By: Ambassador Robert O. Blake, Jr. for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) Ambassador met with Presidential Secretary (National Security Advisor equivalent) Lalith Weeratunga on March 20 to present a list of 350 Sri Lankans who are alleged by Sri Lankan NGOs to have been abducted in Colombo and Jaffna between January 2006 and February 2007. Ambassador explained that the list is a follow-up to the suggestion agreed to by the President during SCA PDAS Mann's visit (reftel). The Ambassador urged that the GSL go through the names and endeavor to determine the status of each of the cases. Perhaps some might be in custody, for example. That knowledge alone would be a great comfort to the families. The Ambassador also urged the GSL to make public any findings from its inquiry to show it is committed to addressing human rights problems. ¶2. (C) The following information is for Washington info and was not shared with the GSL to protect the sources. The list of abductees was compiled using sources (strictly protect) within the Civil Monitoring Commission (CMC) in Colombo and the Jaffna branch of the Human Rights Commission (JHRC). In order to verify the accuracy of the information provided, the CMC and the JHRC have, and are willing to provide to Embassy on a case-by-case basis, copies of various combinations of the abductees' national identity cards, birth certificates, marriage certificates (where applicable) and missing persons complaints filed with the police stations, the HRC and the Inspector-General of Police in Colombo, as well as complaints filed with the Security Force Commander in Jaffna. Further, on March 16, the opposition UNP held a press conference in which they released the names of 77 abductees. Seventy-four of the 77 names on the UNP list matched those gathered by Embassy. The additional 3 UNP names were added to the Embassy list prior to delivery. ¶3. (C) Weeratunga thanked the Ambassador for the list and promised to convey it to the relevant authorities. He said he had repeatedly urged the security forces to follow as much due process as possible in arresting persons suspected of working with the LTTE. BLAKE