THE JOINT STATEMENT OF THE JUDGES

(A translation from Sinhala)
December 3, 2012

As judicial officers our attention has been drawn to the manner in which inquiries are being conducted about the charges in the impeachment motion brought against the Chief Justice. As it appears to us there is behaviour in the media which is disrespectful of the Chief Justice as well as the judiciary.

Therefore we recommend that all the defamatory statements made by such media against the judiciary should stop.

We request that attention must be paid to the great harm that such defamatory statements will cause to the Chief Justice and also collectively to the judiciary thereby causing the rule of law to break down which will result in serious harm.

We also propose that the inquiries conducted against the Chief Justice should be made impartially and with transparency.

We would also like to draw attention to the fact that the appointment of a committee consisting of seven persons from the group that made the charges and four persons from another party for inquiring into charges violates the principles of natural justice and in no country does the party that makes the charges themselves inquire into the same charges.

We would have to raise the question as to what examples do we provide to the world through the removal of the Chief Justice of this country in this manner.

Signed

The Judges Association of the High Court The Judges Association of the District Court The Association of the Magistrates, and
The Association of the Labour Tribunals