Sri Lanka parliament impeaches chief justice

The Sri Lankan parliament on Friday voted by a majority to impeach the chief Justice which could eventually lead to her removal from office.

The impeachment motion was passed by a 2/3rd majority with 155 members voting for and 49 against it. President of Mahinda Rajapaksa now needs to decide if he will remove the chief justice.

Parliament had decided to have a two day debate on the report of a Parliament Select Committee appointed to investigate the allegations raised against Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake.

The chief justice had been found guilty on three of the five charges looked into by the Parliament Select Committee.

Opposition members of the 11 member Parliament Select Committee had withdrawn from the committee saying they had no faith in its outcome.

However, the committee went ahead with its proceedings and submitted a report to the speaker which was debated and a vote taken on Friday if the chief justice should be impeached or not.

The country's apex court had ruled earlier this year that the Parliament Select Committee is unconstitutional.

Bandaranayake, the first woman chief justice, fell out of favor with the government after she ruled against a government sponsored bill.

The United Nations had warned that the impeachment could send a negative signal to the international community about Sri Lanka's commitment to its human rights obligations.

The Special UN Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers, Gabriela Knaul, had said that she does not share the government's view that the impeachment process is an internal matter.