COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — The International Commission of Jurists has condemned the appointment of a trusted aide of Sri Lanka's president as the country's chief justice and urged the government to reinstate the former top judge who was fired after a highly criticized impeachment process. The group denounced the appointment of Mohan Peiris, a retired attorney general and a legal adviser to the Cabinet, as chief justice, saying it “raises serious concerns about the future of the rule of law and accountability” and “a further assault on the independence of the judiciary.” Peiris was sworn in before President Mahinda Rajapakse on Tuesday, two days after Shirani Bandaranayake was dismissed as chief justice after a parliamentary committee found her guilty of having unexplained wealth and misuse of power. Bandaranayake 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. Sri Lanka's controversial new chief justice spent his first full day at work in his chambers on Wednesday after his impeached predecessor insisted she remained the country's top judge. And lawyers who stayed away from work last week protesting the impeachment of Bandaranayake were at work Wednesday, officials said, adding that their decision not to recognize the new chief judge was still in place. “The new CJ was in his chambers, but he did not take up any cases,” a court official said on condition of anonymity. “We can expect him on the bench after a ceremonial session. That could happen soon.” In a parting shot as she drove out of her official residence on Tuesday evening, Bandaranayake said she was still the rightful chief justice and was only leaving office because she feared for her life. Even before Peiris could be sworn on Tuesday, a local political think tank, the Center for Policy Alternatives, and its executive director filed a petition in the Supreme Court challenging Peiris' appointment as unconstitutional. No date has been fixed for hearing. “Mohan Peiris' appointment as the new chief justice, after a politically compromised and procedurally flawed impeachment, adds serious insult to the gross injury already inflicted on Sri Lanka's long suffering judiciary,” Sam Zarifi, ICJ's Asia director, said in a statement on group's website. He said during Peiris' tenure as attorney general and the government's top legal adviser, he “consistently blocked efforts to hold the government responsible for serious human rights violations and disregarded international law and standards.” — AP
