Only Lanka and Fiji have ever denied visa to IBA missions: Lawyers Collective

• Lawyers group warns that Fiji was suspended from the Commonwealth of Nations one year later
• Urges Govt. to be transparent and allow independent assessment of impeachment process
• Says IBA missions have visited SL twice before and compiled useful reports
• In 2001, IBA mission thanked GoSL for ‘warm’ reception in report on Sarath Silva impeachment

By Dharisha Bastians

 The International Bar Association fact finding mission to Sri Lanka should have been permitted entry if the Government had nothing to hide with regard to its impeachment process against Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake, legal activists said yesterday.

 The Lawyers Collective, an umbrella organisation of several legal associations issuing a statement expressed disappointment that visas had been denied to the high level delegation from the IBA, which is the world’s leading association of legal practitioners, bar associations and law societies.

 The Collective said that it believed that if the Government had nothing to hide or it had followed Latimer House principles in impeaching the country’s top judge last month, the mission would have been permitted. It added that the only country to have ever denied visas to IBA missions was Fiji in 2008.

Fiji was later expelled from the Commonwealth in 2009, the statement from the lawyers group said.

 A high level delegation led by former Indian Chief Justice J.S. Verma was expected to arrive in Colombo on 1 February for a 10-day visit to conduct a fact finding mission on the country’s recent impeachment of the Chief Justice.

The IBA was forced to postpone the visit after the Sri Lankan Government revoked the visas of all four members of the delegation, citing a violation of visa rules. The IBA delegation was to also include UK House of Lords Member Baroness Usha Prashar, IBA Human Rights Institute Programme Lawyer Shane Keenan and British Barrister working with the IBA’s Human Rights Institute, Sadakat Kadri.

  “The Government of Sri Lanka has constantly stated that the impeachment against its Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake has been done in accordance with the constitutional and international best practices. An independent assessment would have assisted the Government of Sri Lanka to prove its credibility,” the Collective said.

 They said that IBA missions had visited Sri Lanka twice before and compiled reports which “enriched the legal profession and judiciary immensely.”

 According to the statement, the International Bar Association has considerable expertise in providing assistance to the global legal community. “The Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) is a member of the IBA. Sri Lankan legal community is an integral part of the global legal fraternity,” the Collective said.  

 “Lawyers Collective urges the Government of Sri Lanka in the circumstances to be transparent and be open for scrutiny of its impeachment process and Rule of Law. Such openness would help the democracy in Sri Lanka in general and the professional standards of the Sri Lankan legal professionals,” the statement added.

 The Bar Association of Sri Lanka is yet to officially respond to the Government’s denial of entry to the IBA delegation, but BASL Presidential Aspirant Attorney at Law, Upul Jayasuriya told Daily FT that Sri Lanka was exhibiting signs of being a police state by being paranoid about such visits.

 An IBA delegation had also arrived in the country in 2001 during the impeachment against Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva, and compiled a report, Jayasuriya, said, even though the Government of the time was intent on safeguarding its Chief Justice from impeachment.

 The 2001 delegation included Lord Brennan QC, former Chair of the Bar Council of England and Wales, Justice V.S. Malimath, former Chief Justice of Karnataka and Kerala, and Mah Weng Kwai, then President of the Malaysian Bar Council. In their report, the 2001 delegation extended its gratitude for their warm reception by both the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Lakshman Kadirgamar and the then Minister of Constitutional Affairs, Dr. G.L. Peiris.

 “In addition, the delegation members would like to thank the Chief Justice, Sarath Nanda Silva, for agreeing to meet them and giving generously of his time,” the delegation said in its report.