A British man who says he was tortured in Sri Lanka and detained by authorities after travelling there to get married last month, has returned to the UK following a campaign to secure his release.
Velauthapillai Renukaruban, 36, who lives in Ealing, west London, was freed from detention by the government in the south Asian country after the Foreign Office, a top human rights lawyer in Sri Lanka and a campaign by his family in London helped to secure his freedom.
Renukaruban arrived in the country of his birth on 1 June to marry Thajeepa Vinayagamoorthy, 27, in an arranged marriage. They planned to marry on 8 June and a small family party had been arranged. Renukaruban was planning to return to the UK on 23 June with his wife.
But soon after Renukaruban, who is a Tamil, arrived back at the family home in Jaffna, north Sri Lanka, his family said two men arrived on motorbikes, beat him up in front of his mother and older sister and then bundled him into a van. He was accused of being involved with LTTE, a militant group known as the Tamil Tigers, which fought to break away from the Sinhalese majority in Sri Lanka. He was then taken to Jaffna prison.
He was only located several days later, after his family made extensive inquiries about his whereabouts. He had injuries consistent with torture, according to Anton Punethayanagam, the Sri Lankan human rights lawyer his family engaged to represent him.
Renukaruban, who arrived at Heathrow airport earlier this week, was limping and complained of severe headaches.
