U.N. human rights boss slams Sri Lanka over chief justice
Rupert Colville
(Reuters) – United Nations human rights chief Navi Pillay has accused Sri Lanka of “gross interference” in the judiciary, warning that its removal of the chief justice could jeopardize efforts to prosecute war crimes.
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa appointed a close ally as chief justice on Tuesday, two days after sacking the previous top judge for impeachment despite opposition from the Supreme Court.
“The removal of the Chief Justice through a flawed process – which has been deemed unconstitutional by the highest courts of the land – is, in the High Commissioner’s view, gross interference in the independence of the judiciary and a calamitous setback for the rule of law in Sri Lanka,” Pillay’s spokesman Rupert Colville told a news briefing in Geneva on Friday.
Mohan Peiris, who replaces Shirani Bandaranayake as chief justice, has been active in Sri Lanka’s delegations defending its record at the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva.
The government has resisted calls at the 47-member state forum to set up an international inquiry to investigate massacres of civilians during its three-decade civil war, which ended in May 2009. A U.N.-sponsored panel has said that the army committed large-scale abuses and was responsible for many civilian deaths in the final stages of the war against the separatist Tamil Tigers.
“This raises obvious concerns about his independence and impartiality, especially when handling allegations of serious human rights violations by the authorities,” Colville said.
“We are also concerned that the impeachment process has caused bitter divisions within Sri Lanka, and that it sends an ominous signal about the government’s commitment to accountability and reconciliation.”
Pillay’s office received “alarming reports” on Friday from the country’s independent law bar about a “series of death threats, acts of intimidation and even a couple of reported murder attempts” against lawyers who have been supporting former chief justice Bandaranayake, the U.N. spokesman said.
Reuters
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Navi Pillai who is an ethnic tamil who supported Velu Pillai Prabakaran’s terrorist cult against is well known for Sri Lanka bashing. This is not new.
But the mountains don’t move just because dogs (and such bitches) bark.
In one of my previous articles, I mentioned that the Sri Lankan president should not interfere with the judiciary system of the country and it will be an international issue. Sri Lanka’s war crime subject was gone down with the minds of UN and EU. But because of the ignorant and agressive mind of Mr.President that war crime subject has been renewed again. Now who is going to pay the price? The armed forces who fought by scrificing their lives to libarate the country has to pay the price. The President is flying with his executive powers and has no mind to think what are the outcomes of these stupid decisions. I can give another prediction again, country’s power can be taken over by a military coup.
Dayaratne Bandara.
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.