The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) issuing a statement yesterday said, information has been received that Lalith Kumar Weeraju and Kugan Murugan, who were believed to have been abducted on 10 December 2011 while engaged in putting up posters for the Human Rights Day, are being detained at the Police Welfare Building in Pettah.
Weeraju and Murugan also belong to the same political faction led by Premakumar Gunarathnam who was abducted by an unidentified armed group on 7 April.
“The AHRC, as well as other human rights organisations have kept up a constant vigil on Weeraju and Murugan.
There had been no news about them since. However, some media channels and human rights activists in Sri Lanka have brought to our notice that, in fact, both Weeraju and Murugan are being held in custody at the Police Welfare Building at Pettah, Colombo 11.
According to the information we have received the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka has been informed about their detention at this building and requests have been made for the Human Rights Commission to visit the premises and obtain their release,” the statement said.
The AHRC also urged the concerned groups to take steps to pressurize the Sri Lankan Government to release these two persons immediately. However, when asked about the statement issued by the AHRC, Police Media Spokesperson SP Ajith Rohana vehemently denied the allegation stating there was no such information in hand regarding such a detention.
