The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) has summoned officers of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to appear before it this week to provide information on their ongoing investigation involving former State Intelligence Service (SIS) Director Major General (Retired) Suresh Sallay, Ada Derana reported on Tuesday.
HRC Commissioner Nimal G. Punchihewa said the Commission had launched an inquiry on the basis of a complaint filed by Maj. Gen. Sallay’s relatives. CID officers had been instructed to appear before the Commission last week but were unable to do so and requested a fresh date, the Commissioner said.
CID officers involved in the investigation, including the officer in charge, have now been directed to appear during the course of this week. The Commission has also conducted additional inquiries into the matter, including visits to the CID and the National Hospital of Colombo, where statements were recorded.
Sallay was arrested under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) on 25 February in connection with the 2019 Easter Sunday attacks investigation and has been held in CID custody under detention orders since. Allegations of inhumane treatment by CID officers were first publicly raised by former MP Udaya Gammanpila, prompting Sallay’s decision to refuse food and water — what his family describes as a “fast unto death.”
His wife Manori Sallay, who visited the National Hospital on Monday, told reporters that her husband remained in a critical condition, was not consuming food or water, and was being administered saline. “He is still not eating or drinking anything. He is in a critical condition. The doctors are monitoring him. He is on saline. He has not ended his fast,” she said. The family confirmed Sallay continues to receive medical care at the hospital after CID officers transferred him there from custody on Sunday evening.
After meeting relatives and his legal counsel at the National Hospital, Sallay set two specific conditions for ending his fast, Ada Derana reported on Tuesday: the removal of the CID Director and a change in his place of detention. The opposition Satyagraha outside Colombo Fort Railway Station continued through the night, with Pivithuru Hela Urumaya Leader Udaya Gammanpila pledging to press on regardless of obstacles and Sarvajana Balaya Deputy Chairperson Anuradha Yahampath saying the protest would continue until Sallay is released. National People’s Power MP Chandana Sooriyaarachchi countered that the matter was before the courts and would be resolved by the judiciary, urging the public not to be alarmed.
The HRCSL inquiry adds a third independent oversight track to the Sallay case, alongside the Court of Appeal writ petition challenging his PTA detention and the psychiatric assessment ordered for 10 June. The Commission has the authority to investigate human-rights complaints involving state officers and to direct corrective action by the relevant authority.
Sources: Ada Derana — Human Rights Commission summons CID over investigations involving Suresh Sallay; Ada Derana — Suresh Sallay continues hunger strike, sets conditions to end fast.
