Shakthika Sathkumara ( si, ශක්තික සත්කුමාර; born 1985/1986)
is a writer and civil servant from
Sri Lanka.
[https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Detention/Opinions/Session87/A_HRC_WGAD_2020_8_Advance_Edited_Version.pdf ] He was charged under Section 3(1) of the ICCPR Act and Article 291(B) of the
Penal Code of Sri Lanka
Penal Code (''Ordinance No. 2 of 1883)'' enacts the Criminal and Penal law of Sri Lanka. The Act/Law was adopted in 1883. There were two amendments An amendment is a formal or official change made to a law, contract, constitution, or other lega ...
, which covers propagating hatred and incitement of racial or religious violence, and faced up to ten years imprisonment.
[Shakthika Sathkumara discharged days ahead of UNHRC sessions]
(February 9, 2021), ''Economy Next''. Retrieved May 12, 2021. In February 2021, he was discharged.
Background
Sathkumara is a non-fiction writer and poet.
As well, he worked as an Economic Development Officer at the
Polgahawela Divisional Secretariat Office before his arrest.
He published a short story to his
Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Mosk ...
account that included depictions of homosexual
Buddhist monks
A ''bhikkhu'' (Pali: भिक्खु, Sanskrit: भिक्षु, ''bhikṣu'') is an ordained male in Buddhist monasticism. Male and female monastics ("nun", ''bhikkhunī'', Sanskrit ''bhikṣuṇī'') are members of the Sangha (Buddhist ...
and references of
sexual abuse
Sexual abuse or sex abuse, also referred to as molestation, is abusive sexual behavior by one person upon another. It is often perpetrated using force or by taking advantage of another. Molestation often refers to an instance of sexual assa ...
and
pedophilia
Pedophilia ( alternatively spelt paedophilia) is a psychiatric disorder in which an adult or older adolescent experiences a primary or exclusive sexual attraction to prepubescent children. Although girls typically begin the process of puberty ...
.
A group of Buddhist monks felt that his story had insulted their religion and they went to the police with their complaints.
2019 Arrest, Detention, and Release
Sathkumara was arrested by the Polgahawela Police on April 2, 2019.
He was charged under Section 3(1) of the ICCPR Act and Art 291(B) of the Penal Code of Sri Lanka, which covers propagating hatred and incitement of racial or religious violence, and faced up to ten years imprisonment.
While the police investigated his case, Sathkumara was kept in pre-trial detention for 127 days.
On February 9, 2021, he was released from the Polgahawela Magistrate Court without an indictment.
His discharge occurred several days before the
United Nations Human Rights Council
The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), CDH is a United Nations body whose mission is to promote and protect human rights around the world. The Council has 47 members elected for staggered three-year terms on a regional group basis. ...
sessions in Geneva.
International Response
In July 2019,
Amnesty International stated that "Shakthika Sathkumara is a prisoner of conscience and must be immediately and unconditionally released and all charges against him dropped,”.
In December 2019, human rights focused non-profit
Freedom Now submitted a petition to the
UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention on behalf of Sathkumara. In May 2020, the Working Group determined that his detention was arbitrary and violated international law.
On January 13, 2020,
PEN International
PEN International (known as International PEN until 2010) is a worldwide association of writers, founded in London in 1921 to promote friendship and intellectual co-operation among writers everywhere. The association has autonomous Internatio ...
stated that "Shakthika Sathkumara is being targeted solely for the peaceful exercise of his right to freedom of expression and calls for the investigation against him to be dropped,”.
See also
*
Blasphemy law in Sri Lanka
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sathkumara, Shakthika
1980s births
Living people
21st-century Sri Lankan writers
Sri Lankan short story writers
Human rights in Sri Lanka