Asela Sampath, President of the Consumer Rights Protection Organization, said he had been subjected to brutal torture during his incarceration. He says that he was arrested on April 13,brought to Welikada Prison and was taken to the Pallansena camp for quarantine on New Year’s Day.
In an interview with Chamuditha Samarawickrema’s Truth with Chamuditha YouTube channel, he said that he was arrested under the influence of Minister Bandula Gunawardena and that when a social activist spoke to the Minister about him, he had said that he would do his utmost against him. Mr. Asela Sampath stated that he was produced before the court and that he had to be tortured ten times in prison due to the maximum execution of the Minister.
Mr. Asela Sampath said that he was taken to the Pallansena camp, beaten with sticks and later stripped naked. His comments in the interview are as follows.
“Prisoners in this country are suffering in solitary confinement despite being told that they are human beings. We were sent to Pallansena and received with five strokes to our back . Though it is a quarantine center, we were not given a plate to eat or drink or a cup of water.
Later I was taken to Bogambara where the Chief Jailor took us in with a large PVC pipe. Naked there too. The court granted me bail on the 19th. I did not know. On the 20th I was beaten for singing in the room. The whole prisoners sing. But I was attacked because of that political influence. I was attacked by the prison officer in charge, Jagath. If there is an identification parade, I will show who Appuhamy is.
These people are against me because I continue to talk about consumer rights. Because it opposes poisoning consumers. Aflatoxin is also found only in the lentils of Weligama Sathosa. Why aren’t those lentils elsewhere? The dhal also went to Weligama Sathosa. I raised this story. What did these guys do? Put the story of Ms world’s crown up and close the Aflatoxin story.
I live with the help of a few entrepreneurs who have been with me in this social activism from the beginning. I don’t even have a foot bike. I walk. My shoes are a month and a half old and I can put on as many shoes as I can walk. I don’t even have a window in my mind. This is all I was able to do to sell the village land and buy this land and build a house. I have no NGO money.
Although Mr. Bandula Gunawardena said that he would send a summons for compensation of Rs. 500 million, no such letter has come to my house till today. I don’t know what’s going on. He asks for five hundred million to live with his four children. The man who told a family to live on Rs. 2,500 in 2012. He and I have four children. The house and the bed are all to be given. I have nothing else to give.
I was suddenly arrested with an old case involved. The reason is nothing but criticism of this luggage
When Mr. Chirantha Amarasinghe of my own union called Minister Bandula Gunawardena and asked him what the problem was with Asela, the Minister called me a scoundrel. That’s what a civil activist like me talks about. He says I will do the best I can. That is what we have given to the judiciary. It was for that maximum that I was taken to prison and tortured heavily.
I am not making these allegations against the President. The President needs to know to form this cabinet. My arrest is clearly a conspiracy. The law does not apply to cases where nothing happens after consuming poison. But I was arrested for asking if there was aflatoxin in these lentils.
