INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
A Colombo-based human rights groups has called on the Sri Lankan government to do more and take responsibility for seven of its citizens who
said they were captured and tortured by Russians in eastern Ukraine.The seven, freed last month when Ukrainian forces retook the eastern
Kharkiv region, recounted beatings and forced labour at the hands of their Russian captors
government officials later told the media that the seven were illegal migrants and did not want to return to Sri Lanka.In a press conference
in Kharkiv a week ago, the Sri Lankans recounted their ordeal and said they were deeply affected and traumatised by what had happened and
have not decided what to do next.
Most of the group hail from Jaffna city on the once war-torn peninsula
like the seven, may want to return to Sri Lanka till things improve
Lanka embassy in Ankara, which is concurrently accredited to Ukraine, as well as through the Ukrainian embassy in New Delhi, to obtain
further information on this matter.
The ministry had facilitated the return of over 90 Sri Lankans, including 16 students living in
the conditions of the detention rooms where the Sri Lankan citizens were held as horrific and extremely indecent
city of Kupiansk and three were working there when Russian forces crossed the border in late February and occupied large swathes of eastern
and southern Ukraine.When the Russians came, the Sri Lankans tried to escape to Kharkiv but were stopped at the first Russian checkpoint out
They were taken to Vovchansk, near the border with Russia
for money from the Sri Lankans.The group recounted that when the Russians spoke with them and they replied that they did not understand
their language, they got beaten up.The group said they received food twice a day
Lankans were usually the last in the line for food and the food ran out on some days by the time they got to the front of the queue
They were only allowed to take a shower every five days.On September 10, the Ukrainians entered Kopiansk
When the Russians left, the Sri Lankans escaped by foot.Sharujan Gianeswaran, speaking in Tamil to an AP journalist by phone, said they were
on the road for two days and were exhausted and hungry.Someone finally provided shelter after two days and called for a ride from security
Police said the group was picked up in the Chuhuiv area, about 70km from where they started.The Sri Lankans are not the only foreigners who
were captured by the Russians in the territories which they occupied.Ukrainian Deputy Interior Minister Yevhen Yenin said that the
authorities had come across other foreigners
foreigners with the same brutality that they meted out to Ukrainians.Source: South China Morning Post--Agencies
This article first appeared/also appeared in https://adaderana.lk
