{"id":137567,"date":"2015-01-21T03:25:18","date_gmt":"2015-01-20T21:55:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=137567"},"modified":"2015-01-28T07:57:28","modified_gmt":"2015-01-28T02:27:28","slug":"is-ranil-preventing-removal-of-mohan-pieris","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/is-ranil-preventing-removal-of-mohan-pieris\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Ranil Preventing Removal Of Mohan Pieris?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Reports are emerging that Prime Minister <a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Ranil+Wickremesinghe&amp;x=7&amp;y=3\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Ranil Wickremesinghe<\/span><\/a> is standing in the way of removing de facto Chief Justice <a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Mohan+Pieris&amp;x=8&amp;y=5\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Mohan Pieris<\/span><\/a> from office Colombo Telegraph reliably learns.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/Ranil2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-112253\" src=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/Ranil2-193x300.jpg\" alt=\"Opposition leader Ranil Wickramasinghe listens to journalists during a National Council coalition party news conference in Colombo\" width=\"193\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/Ranil2-193x300.jpg 193w, https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/Ranil2.jpg 322w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 193px) 100vw, 193px\" \/><\/a>Senior lawyers, including Bar Association President <a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Upul+Jayasuriya&amp;x=7&amp;y=5\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Upul Jayasuriya<\/span><\/a> are heavily lobbying Wickremesinghe to sign off on the removal, but Colombo Telegraph learns the Prime Minister is on the backfoot on the issue.<\/p>\n<p>Sources say this could be linked to Wickremesinghe&#8217;s dislike of Chief Justice <a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Shirani+Bandaranayake&amp;x=10&amp;y=6\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Shirani Bandaranayake<\/span><\/a> whose reinstatement is part of the President <a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Maithripala+Sirisena&amp;x=7&amp;y=5\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Maithripala Sirisena<\/span><\/a>&#8216;s promises.<\/p>\n<p>However since it is part of the 100 day pledge Wickremesinghe may not have an option, Colombo Telegraph learns.<\/p>\n<p>Pieris&#8217; reign as head of the judiciary is even more tenuous after he was found at Temple Trees in the early morning hours of January 9th, when the Sirisena camp has alleged and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/inside-story-of-the-election-night-coup-unfolds-a-detailed-version\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">details continue to emerge<\/span><\/a> that the defeated President <a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Mahinda+Rajapaksa&amp;x=6&amp;y=6\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Mahinda Rajapaksa<\/span><\/a> and his brother <a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Gotabaya+Rajapaksa&amp;x=7&amp;y=4\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Gotabaya<\/span><\/a> and several others were plotting to use force to stay in power.<\/p>\n<p>Colombo Telegraph learns that Pieris along with former Constituional Affairs Minister G.L. Peiris were strongly advocating the position that President Rajapaksa was constitutionally empowered to declare emergency, anull the election and stay out the rest of his six year term in office.<\/p>\n<p>Under the circumstances senior lawyers argue that it is no longer possible for de facto CJ Pieris to continue in office and must at least step down until the coup investigation is complete.<\/p>\n<p>Colombo Telegraph has been unable to reach\u00a0Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":112253,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,1,6969,2375],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-137567","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-news","category-popular-stories","category-stories"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Is Ranil Preventing Removal Of Mohan Pieris? 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