Sri Lanka's lawyers strike in protest of Chief Justice impeachment

Sri Lanka's courts paralyzed on Wednesday as lawyers suspended work and took to the streets to protest an impeachment motion against the Chief Justice. Lawyers shouting slogans marched around the Supreme Court complex in the capital demanding that the government roll back a highly controversial impeachment that has attracted torrents of criticism from lawyers, civil society, the international community and opposition parties. Court proceedings also stopped for an hour as judges postponed cases due to lack of lawyers. The Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL), which has the membership of over 11,000 lawyers, spearheaded the boycott. This is the latest in a string of protests in support of the Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake that has pushed the legislature and judiciary into open conflict. In November the Sri Lankan government brought an impeachment motion against Bandaranayake on 14 charges and appointed a Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) to probe the allegations. However, the overtly biased 11-member PSC immediately came under a barrage of condemnation on the way it held the hearings with Bandaranayke walking out of sessions last Thursday. A day later the four opposition members also stepped down citing flawed procedure. This did not prevent the PSC from finding Bandaranayke guilty of three charges and recommending that she be removed as Chief Justice on Saturday. Under mounting pressure from the judiciary, President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Tuesday decided to appoint an independent panel to evaluate the proposal presented by the PSC and commented that he was deeply "saddened" by the impeachment events. However, lawyers have rejected this olive branch insisting that the biased PSC report should be withdrawn in full. "Any future inquiry must take place only after a fair procedure and tribunal are lawfully introduced. Until then the agitation of the Bar will continue," said a statement released by Lawyers Collective, an umbrella organization for the island's legal professionals. Sri Lanka's opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe on Monday warned that the island risked expulsion from the Commonwealth if it kept on its current path to impeach the Chief Justice. Despite the vehement criticism parliament has allocated ten days to debate the impeachment once sessions commence in the new year.