Impeachment against CJ: UNP wants int’l observers

4 November 2012 12:17 pm

The main opposition UNP stressed today that international and local legal experts should be allowed to observers the proceedings of the impeachment motion against the Chief Justice, also calling for a live telecast of the hearing.

UNP Senior Vice President and MP Lakshman Kiriella told journalists that observers from the International Bar Association, International Commission of Jurists and representatives of BASL and local Judges Association should be allowed to observe the proceedings in order to ensure transparency.

He said the government should allow independent observers both from here and abroad and also a live telecast of the proceedings as it was essential to determine the charges against Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake are genuine or fabricated ones. Besides he said these are practices followed by many countries today.

He also said the UNP would have to participate in the select committee proceedings as it has been made compulsory that opposition members participate in it by the Constitution. Mr. Kiriella further stressed that the UNP should participate so that the party would be able to determine the charges against the Chief Justice. “We have decided to participate in the select committee proceedings in order to ensure justice to Chief justice,” he said. (Yohan Perera)