Govt. should demand reinstatement of Shirani B: Law Society of South Africa

The Law Society of South Africa has called on its Government to take a stand against Sri Lanka for what it calls the politically-motivated impeachment of Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake and urge the Government of Sri Lanka to reinstate the impeached judge.

Issuing a joint statement yesterday, LSSA Co-Chairpersons Krish Govender and Jan Stemmett said the South African Government must not be seen to remain silent in the face of these violations of the Rule of Law while at the same time increasing its bilateral and trade relations with Sri Lanka.

“The LSSA calls on the South African Government to condemn these developments in Sri Lanka and to urge the Sri Lankan Government to reinstate Judge Bandaranayake as Chief Justice,” the joint statement said.

The LSSA Chairpersons said that the impeachment of the Chief Justice comes after the Secretary of the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) of Sri Lanka, Manjula Tilakarante, was attacked in October last year at a time of heightened tension between the JSC and the Government of Sri Lanka. “These incidents are indicative of the erosion of the rule of law and the fact that the Sri Lankan Government appears to be intimidating the Judiciary and the legal profession,” Govender and Stemmett said.

“It is a matter of grave concern when a country – and particularly a member of the Commonwealth – claims to respect the rule of law, the separation of powers and the independence of the Judiciary and legal profession on the one hand, but appears to violate these on the other,” the statement said.

It said that The LSSA plans to take this matter up at the 18th Commonwealth Law Conference being hosted by the Commonwealth Lawyers Association and the LSSA in Cape Town from 14 to 18 April 2013.

South Africa is considered one of the Commonwealth’s major success stories because the organisation was instrumental in bringing the country’s oppressive Apartheid regime to an end.