SALON

Tuesday, Jan 15, 2013 10:15 AM UTC

Sri Lankan leader replaces chief justice he fired

By

Topics: From the Wires,

Sri Lankan leader replaces chief justice he firedPalestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, left, and Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa pose for a photograph in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Monday, April 16, 2012. The Palestinian leader, who is on a two-day official visit to the country, held bilateral discussions and signed two agreements on political consultation between the two foreign ministries and on taxation issues. (AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe)(Credit: Gemunu Amarasinghe)

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lanka’s president on Tuesday swore in a trusted aide to replace the chief justice he fired, a move that could lead to a judicial crisis if lawyers and judges who say the move was illegal refuse to cooperate with the new head judge.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa swore in Mohan Peiris, a retired attorney general and a legal adviser to the Cabinet, after his nominee was approved by a parliamentary council earlier Tuesday, said presidential spokeswoman Anuradha Herath.

On Sunday, Rajapaksa dismissed Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake after a parliamentary committee found her guilty of having unexplained wealth and misuse of power.

Bandaranayake has denied the charges and accused the tribunal of not giving her a fair hearing. Courts have ruled in her favor, but the president and Parliament ignored the rulings.

Peiris has been prominent in defending Rajapaksa’s government from allegations of human rights violations and enforced disappearances.

Rajapaksa’s critics say appointing a confidante to the post of chief justice gives him control over the judiciary as well as Parliament, where more than two-thirds of the 225 members support him.

The critics also say replacing the chief justice is part of an effort to consolidate the government’s power in the hands of the president’s family.

Rajapaksa’s older brother is the parliamentary speaker, and two of his younger brothers hold the powerful positions of economic development minister and defense secretary. Rajapaksa’s eldest son is a lawmaker.

Many prominent lawyers have already said they still recognize Bandaranayake as the chief justice and have written to senior judges urging them not to recognize a new appointee.

Hundreds of policemen guarded the country’s main court complex in Colombo, the capital, on Tuesday in an apparent bid to prevent Bandaranayake from entering the courts. Bandaranayake, however, remained at home.

Lawyers supporting Bandaranayake protested her dismissal by blowing out candles in unison in front of the Supreme Court, saying the act symbolized the death of the judiciary. They chanted, “Let’s rise against dictatorship.”

“The legal community is not ready to accept a puppet appointed by this authoritarian (president),” said Srinath Perera, a lawyer who took part in the protest.

More By Krishan Francis.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
    Credit: AP/LM Otero

  • Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
    Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

  • A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
    Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher

  • Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
    Credit: AP/Molly Riley

  • Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
    Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

  • Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
    Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster

  • O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
    Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid

  • Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
    Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield

  • When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
    Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

  • A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
    Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 0 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

vote
Loaded terminology like "entitlements" and "welfare" skews the debate and alters America. How right-wingers use semantic tricks to kill government.
351 points352 points | 116 comments
vote
How right-wingers use semantic tricks to kill government -- "...much of the U.S. economic security support system consists of subsidies for the affluent in the form of tax breaks, like those for private retirement savings plans such as 401(k)s and private employer-provided health insurance."
63 points64 points | 3 comments
vote
Doug Henwood: Capitalism Thrives on Class Exploitation
37 points38 points | 4 comments
vote
Temple Grandin on DSM-5: “Sounds like diagnosis by committee.” When it comes to autism, Grandin argues we're paying too much attention to labels -- and not enough to individuals
37 points38 points | 3 comments
vote
Jon Karl makes things worse: He regrets “inaccurate” Benghazi email but says his story based on it “still entirely stands.” Really. ABC News?
38 points39 points | 11 comments

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: So long, Sookie Stackhouse

Recommendations