{"id":60652,"date":"2012-11-17T09:58:55","date_gmt":"2012-11-17T09:58:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=60652"},"modified":"2012-11-18T09:31:22","modified_gmt":"2012-11-18T09:31:22","slug":"a-judge-is-in-a-worse-position-than-an-accused-murderer-or-rapist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/a-judge-is-in-a-worse-position-than-an-accused-murderer-or-rapist\/","title":{"rendered":"A Judge Is In A Worse Position Than An Accused Murderer Or Rapist"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By\u00a0<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Basil+Fernando&amp;x=6&amp;y=5\">Basil Fernando<\/a><\/span>\u00a0&#8211;<\/strong><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_47652\" style=\"width: 152px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/gota-goes-berserk-a-mirror-image-of-sri-lankas-political-culture\/basilfernando-2\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-47652\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-47652\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-47652\" title=\"basilfernando\" src=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/basilfernando1-142x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"142\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-47652\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Basil Fernando<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Even the worst of criminals have a right to a fair trial before an independent judiciary. <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Shirani+Bandaranayake&amp;x=9&amp;y=7\">A judge in an impeachment proceeding<\/a><\/span> in Sri Lanka does not have that right. Article 107 of the Constitution and the standing orders as they stand now preclude that right.<\/p>\n<p>Is the quality of citizenship of a judge of an inferior quality than that of others?<\/p>\n<p>This brings us to Article 12(1) of the constitution, which guarantees equality before law to everyone. However, in impeachment proceedings judges do not have that equality.<\/p>\n<p>What, then, is the quality of the citizenship of a judge?<\/p>\n<p>There is a tragi-comic absurdity here and a fundamental illegality.<\/p>\n<p>Within a framework of such an absurdity and illegality, can the PSC make a legally valid decision?<\/p>\n<p>If a PSC tries a case of murder, will that be valid? Of course not. Whosoever it is, if ever subject to such treatment, has a right to resist participating in such a proceeding.<\/p>\n<p>Would it be a violation of parliamentary privileges if such a person on such an occasion resisted participating in such a proceeding? That cannot be so as the legality of the proceeding must first be established before proceedings are to be legal.<\/p>\n<p>But, it appears that, regarding judges, such legality need not exist. If the PSC calls them they should comply.<\/p>\n<p>The illegality of these proceedings have already been declared by international law experts and authorities.<\/p>\n<p>What is it then that is taking place before our own eyes?<\/p>\n<p>Is any kind of perversity permitted against the judges?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":47652,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,46],"tags":[6020,6541,6171],"class_list":["post-60652","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-constitutional-reforms","tag-impeachment-motion-against-chief-justice-shirani-bandaranayake","tag-impeachment-proceeding-in-sri-lanka","tag-impeachment-proceedings-against-a-chief-justice-of-sri-lanka"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.3 - 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