A Croydon man who has spent 15 months languishing without charge in a notorious south-east Asian jail has accused the British Government of being apathetic “beyond belief” about his plight.
Niranjan Rasalingam, 29, said he had endured “degrading and horrid” conditions since being arrested and imprisoned in Myanmar, also known as Burma, in December 2014.
The accountant, of Cherry Orchard Road, was detained alongside three Indian nationals in Yangon, the country’s largest city, on suspicion of credit card fraud worth nearly £14,000.
But he insists he simply withdrew money from a cash machine using his own card while in the country on business and UK police are understood to have confirmed the transactions were legitimate.
British politicians have also raised concerns about the plight of Mr Rasalingam, who has allegedly been deprived of food to induce a confession and paraded in front of Burmese courts up to five times a week despite not being charged with any offence.
Speaking to the Croydon Guardian through his legal team this week, he described being forced to stand caged alongside up to 40 other prisoners in sweltering 40C heat on trips from Insein prison to the courthouse.
He said: “On the return journey, the police supply drugs and alcohol to any inmate who want to buy it. They also chew betel nut and spit everywhere. It is a disgusting, degrading and horrid experience.
“I have been attacked, been told that I will be detained here for a very long time, and have seen so much corruption.”
He added: “It is bad enough finding myself in a Burmese prison... but to know that all I did was withdraw my own money from an ATM machine, this makes it all the more difficult as I am innocent of any crime.”
Mr Rasalingam, who was working as an accountant in Tooting when he travelled to Myanmar, has relied on friends and family in the UK to pay for his food, bedding, medicine and £5,000-plus legal fees since his arrest.
He said: “The UK Government have done nothing to assist my case.
“Their apathy is beyond belief. All I get told is that they cannot interfere in the Burmese legal system, yet they still comment quite freely on the political prisoners here.”
The UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office said the Government had been “providing support” to Mr Rasalingam since his arrest and “raised this case with the Burmese government on a number of occasions”.
The spokeswoman added: “While we cannot directly intervene in the judicial process of another country, we will continue to urge for progress in taking this case forward and will remain in close contact with Mr Rasalingam’s lawyers.”
Sue Garbutt, the former British vice-consul in Yangon, has been helping Mr Rasalingam and has raised his case with Croydon Central MP, Gavin Barwell.
She claimed Mr Rasalingam and the three others arrested were forced into signing confessions of the alleged fraud soon after their arrest. She said: “They were told, ‘You’re not having any food, you’re not having any consular access until you sign this paperwork’, which was in Burmese.
“After three days without food, the guys just signed it.”
Last month Ms Garbutt met with Paul Scully, MP for Sutton and Cheam, who was visiting Yangon to speak about human rights on behalf of the charity Christian Solidarity Worldwide.
Mr Scully told the Croydon Guardian there were “serious questions to be asked” in Mr Rasalingam’s case, but said the British Government could not go “steam-rolling in”.
Insein prison in Yangon, where Niranjan Rasalingam has been locked up for more than a year
He said: “There is always opportunity to raise this issue, to push this issue. We need to make sure we keep that pressure on.”
The MP, whose father was born in Myanmar, said there a “massive amount of expectation” that Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party would introduce political and legal reforms when it comes into power next month, following years of military rule.
But Mr Rasalingam was pessimistic about the prospect of his release following regime change.
Mr Rasalingam said: “The old Burmese government are corrupt so I would be wasting my time with them. The new government takes over in April - but 25 per cent of the seats are still held by the military.”
The main complainant in his case is KBZ bank, whose chairman, Aung Ko Win, has close links to the military junta.
On February 22 the Myanmar Times reported a High Court judge had ruled the four men could be tried together, potentially speeding up the legal process.
Ms Garbutt said she had witnessed two occasions when judges appeared to have been pressured to keep the case against Mr Rasalingam alive.
Two close members of his family have died during his 15-month incarceration, including his grandmother. His own health has also suffered with recurrent chest infections, according to his former housemate in Cherry Orchard Road.
Harish Paramsothy, 25, said his friend called him from his Burmese cell at least once a week using a phone lent him by a former inmate at the jail.
He said: “He always speaks to me saying, ‘I’m so panicked mate, I don’t know what’s going to happen. He doesn’t want to speak to his mum [in Sri Lanka] because every time he does she’s just crying, and she makes him cry as well.”
Mr Paramsothy, who now lives in Devon, has been paying for Mr Rasalingam’s flat and sending at least £250 a month to his friend since his arrest.
He said: “I’m sure he’s going to come back, but I thought he was going to come back really quick. But it’s been a long time.”
Do you know Mr Rasalingam? Call the newsdesk on 020 8722 6388 or email daniel.omahony@newsquest.co.uk
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