Sri Lankan government has done 'very little' to help tortured Tamils in Ukraine

^{Photograph: Public Kharkiv}

The Sri Lankan government has been accused of doing “very little to assist” a group of Eelam Tamils who were captured by Russian forces in Ukraine and tortured for months, after a senior Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry official slammed the group as “illegal migrants”.

The 7 Tamils were rescued from the eastern Kharkiv region when Ukrainian forces regained control of the area. Four of the group are medical students, and the remaining three are migrant workers. Sri Lankan human rights activist Ruki Fernando has publicly called out the government, claiming that the government “has done very little to assist them” based on the information available. 

“It’s highly unlikely anyone, especially ones who have faced terrible ordeal like the seven, may want to return to Sri Lanka till things improve,” said Fernando. “The government must focus on providing assistance they request and must not try to get them to return without full informed consent,”.

Referring to the ongoing oppression and mistreatment of the Tamil people and the current economic crisis unfolding on the island, he added, “Given most of them are Tamils from war-ravaged and highly-militarised northern Sri Lanka, and torture and other rights violations faced by Tamils in the north, it’s not surprising if they are not keen to come to Sri Lanka”. 

^{Photographs: Public Karkhiv, Suspline}

Speaking to This Week in Asia, Ukraine’s Deputy Interior Minister, Yevhen Yenin described the conditions of the Russian detention centre where the Tamils were held as “horrific and extremely indecent”.

“It is difficult to explain the level of cruelty and atrocities used by Russian soldiers. Maybe somehow this is connected to their living standards,” said Yenin.

The Tamils divulged details of torture and forced labour at the hands of Russian military forces in a press conference held a week ago in Kharkiv. “Every day, they tortured us,” said 25-year-old Dilukshan Robertclive. As the Russians did not speak English, the prisoners could not ascertain why they were being held and tortured. The only word they understood was the word ‘money’, in Russian.  

Dilukshan also spoke of the near-starving conditions they were kept in; they were fed only twice a day, “A little bit of food – (it was) a little bit of macaroni, two (slices of) bread, a little soup,”. He recalls that the Sri Lankans were usually the last in the food line, and sometimes food would run out by the time they got to the front. 

Ukrainian armed forces entered Kopiansk on the 10th of September. When the Russian forces withdrew, the Tamils made their escape on foot. They walked for two days, exhausted and hungry. They were finally able to find assistance. The group were picked up 70km from the factory where they had escaped.