Three magistrates and three judges-all of them Sri Lankans-were sworn in at Government House in Suva, Fiji, the Fiji Times reported.

The judges are Justice Madduma Patabendige Sanjeeva Sudharshana De Silva, Justice Kamal Kumar and Justice Janaka Prasanna Bandara.

The new magistrates are Puimini Weeratunga, Rajakaruna Girihagama and Nadimale Rupasinghe.

Justice Bandara and Justice Kumar have been in the country for some time while Justice Bandara was appointed a resident magistrate in 2011 and Justice Kumar was admitted to the High Court as a barrister and solicitor. Justice De Silva graduated with a Masters of Law degree from the University of Colombo in Sri Lanka in 1996.

Justice Kumar studied at the Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane and holds a bachelor of law degree. Justice Bandara also studied in Australia at the University of Wollongong. He currently holds a master of transnational crime prevention.

The newly-appointed magistrates have also colourful working and educational backgrounds with Ms Weeratunga working as legal officer at the Legal Aid Commission in Sri Lanka.

Ms Weeratunga studied at the Sri Lanka law College and graduated in 2001 after passing the Attorney at Law final examination.

Ms Girihagama previously worked as a state counsel in the Attorney General's department in Sri Lanka. She also holds a Masters of Law after graduating from the University of Colombo in Sri Lanka.

Mr Rupasinghe is a qualified attorney at law of the Supreme Court in Sri Lanka and holds a Bachelor of Law degree from the Open University of Sri Lanka.