Sri Lankan Chief Justice impeached, People protest
January 12, 2013: For thousands of people - lawyers, politicians, religious leaders
and activists, Friday was 'black Friday', a day to mourn the death of justice in front
of parliament building, wearing dark hats and flags.
The Sri Lankan parliament
on Friday voted by a majority to impeach the country's Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake,
beginning the process to remove her from office. The impeachment motion was passed
by a two-third majority with 155 members voting for and 49 against it. It is now up
to Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa to take a decision if he will remove the
country's first woman chief justice.
The government accuses her of corruption,
an allegation the chief justice denies, BBC reported. Recent court rulings said the
process was unconstitutional, and she may refuse to leave.
Critics of the government
say that the top judge is being victimized and the independence of the judiciary is
being challenged. The government denies this, the report added.
Various opposition
parties, including the United National Party and the Tamil National Alliance, had
said they would vote against the motion. The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna party, a Marxist
party, said it would boycott the vote.
Tabled in parliament in November, the
motion against Badaranayake blames her for some 20, vaguely defined offences that
range from having undeclared assets to violating the constitution.
More than
a month ago, the chief justice was subjected to sham hearings by a select committee
of parliament that culminated in her lawyers walking out on 7 December when the committee
refused to give them the list of witnesses.
Civil society groups, including
Catholic and Buddhist leaders, and the international community have criticised the
whole process as a way for the government to interfere with the courts.