Sri Lankan opposition members on Friday pulled out of the impeachment hearing by a Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) against Shirani Bandaranayake (54), the country’s first woman Chief Justice.
John Amaratunga, a member of the main opposition United National Party (UNP) in the PSC, said the move was because of lack of procedure in the Committee.
“PSC started by pre judging the CJ as guilty”, Vijitha Herath another opposition PSC member told reporters.
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This came a day after Ms. Bandaranayake stormed out of the proceedings, citing unfairness. Sources close to her said she would not attend the PSC proceedings any more. The PSC met on Friday despite Ms. Justice Bandaranayake’s withdrawal.
“It was obvious that a majority of the members of the PSC had no real intention to give the Chief Justice a fair hearing”, said a statement from Ms. Bandaranayake’s lawyers.
The Chief Justice faces impeachment based on 14 charges of private and professional misconduct.
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She denied all of the charges and stated she was capable of proving her innocence but the PSC whose majority is from the government was bent on not giving her a fair trial, said the opposition.