Injured, jailed and blackmailed to lie
As the Sri Lankan army commenced their attacks on the area, Dr. Varathan sought refuge within a narrow corridor between two abandoned houses. The shelling was incessant in nature and he became desperately dehydrated overtime. As the shelling paused temporarily, he ran out of the corridor to source some water, however, a bomb exploded near him and caused his arm to be severely injured. Soon after, the Army arrested him.
Dr. Varathan was not provided medical treatment for his injury and was taken into an unknown location. Around 9 days later, he was shifted to the fourth floor of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) - a location which was known to locals for the brutal tactics that it used against its convicted suspects. During his time at the CID, Dr. Varathan was overcome with septic fever, a paralysed hand and around a litre of blood had pooled in his lungs due to internal bleeding. He required major surgery to save his life but was rather threatened by the officials. His surgery was postponed until he had agreed to lie to the media. He was escorted with four other doctors to make a statement before the media to notify them that he had in fact lied when he had reported from the war zone when the reality was in fact au contraire.
After being released from the CID, Dr. Varathan contacted the UN and other human rights groups to explain what had happened to them. He had also requested the UN and other human rights groups to record the truth. Soon after, he travelled to Vavuniya to serve as the northeast coordinator for the psychosocial forum.
Dr. Varathan was not provided medical treatment for his injury and was taken into an unknown location. Around 9 days later, he was shifted to the fourth floor of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) - a location which was known to locals for the brutal tactics that it used against its convicted suspects. During his time at the CID, Dr. Varathan was overcome with septic fever, a paralysed hand and around a litre of blood had pooled in his lungs due to internal bleeding. He required major surgery to save his life but was rather threatened by the officials. His surgery was postponed until he had agreed to lie to the media. He was escorted with four other doctors to make a statement before the media to notify them that he had in fact lied when he had reported from the war zone when the reality was in fact au contraire.
After being released from the CID, Dr. Varathan contacted the UN and other human rights groups to explain what had happened to them. He had also requested the UN and other human rights groups to record the truth. Soon after, he travelled to Vavuniya to serve as the northeast coordinator for the psychosocial forum.
Unfortunately, he had to leave the country due to the increasing number of threats that were made towards him and his family members' lives. He then contacted the US and requested them to assist him to escape from Sri Lanka. Subsequently, he arrived in Kentucky in November of 2011. After arriving in Kentucky, the British TV channel, Channel 4, interviewed him in December 2011 and aired his testimony amongst others as a documentary. In 2013, Dr. Varathan travelled to Germany to record his testimony at another human rights meeting. It is noteworthy that he continues to raise awareness regarding the truth rather than remaining silent to safeguard his personal wellbeing.
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