The Sri Lankan government’s Ministry of Defense website published the following caption with a photograph of the president’s counsel, Romesh de Silva.
President’s Counsel Romesh de Silva, Mr. M A Sumanthiran, Mr. Viran Korea, Ms. Lilanthi De Silva and Chamaine Gunarathne are the team of lawyers who regularly appear for the detainees charged with terrorist activity.
On Oct. 22, 2008, a letter was widely distributed by a group calling itself the Mahason Balakaya (Battalion), which published a threatening message for lawyers who appeared for suspected terrorists:
In the future, all those (who) represent the interests of the terrorist will be subject to the same fate that these terrorist mete out to our innocent people.
Obviously, the Mahason Balakaya is acting with the acquiescence of the government. Publishing the names of lawyers like those on the website of the Ministry of Defense exposes them to death threats and other serious consequences by the Mahason Balakaya.
Previously, human rights organizations had strongly asserted not only the right but also the duty of lawyers to represent anyone in a court of law. To forbid lawyers from representing any person in a court is to negate the very meaning of “court.”
One such report made by the Asian Human Rights Commission said:
To attack a lawyer for his professional work is to attack the legal profession as a whole. This profession need not exist if it does not do what this profession is expected to do. Expecting a lawyer not to appear for a terrorist is similar to asking a medical surgeon not to operate on a terrorist who needs medical care.
November 19, 2008.
A similar publication at the Ministry of Defense website, which named some Tamil lawyers instructing attorneys in fundamental rights applications before the Supreme Court saw several protests lodged with President Mahinda Rajapaskse. However, no action has been taken by the government to eliminate notices like the one on the website of the Ministry of Defense, which can lead to attacks on lawyers. Repeating such notices and naming more lawyers demonstrates that the government sanctions these actions.
The issue posed by the Oct. 22 letter from Mahason Balakaya blaming some Tamils of instructing attorneys for filing fundamental rights applications for alleged terrorists (published in November and modified on Dec. 15) and the publication on Dec. 23, are serious threats to the existence of the court system, fair trial and the legal profession that is allowed to act within the scope of their professional obligations.
The Bar Association of Sri Lanka has responded to the threats made to lawyers, in recent months, by adopting and publishing several resolutions. For instance, it passed a resolution calling for inquiries into threats made to the lawyer who represented the assassinated Sugath Nishanta Fernando of Negombo. Besides, it also passed a lengthy resolution on the grenade attack on the residence of J.C. Weliamuna and the inhumane treatment of D.W.C. Mohotti at the Bambilipitya Police Station. However, there are no reports of any action on the first publication against lawyers who were instructing attorneys in the fundamental rights applications.
The present attack on a president’s counsel including several lawyers should awaken the leadership of the Bar Association to the threat that the legal profession faces in Sri Lanka for its valid and justifiable existence. If the partisan political agenda of some in the leadership of the Bar Association lead them to ignore this threat, then the profession will suffer irreparable damage.
Vasudewa Nanayakkara on Dec. 10 wrote to the president of Sri Lanka protesting the attack on lawyers caused by the notices on the website of the Ministry of Defense and strongly urged for such attacks to be the eliminated. Several media channels published his letter. However, opposition political parties, the trade union movement and other civil society organizations showed little interest in the matter. If such attacks are successful, then it will virtually destroy the possibility of protecting any civil rights of Sri Lankans within the framework of the law.
It is hoped that this latest attack will be a wake up call for the Sri Lankan opposition political parties and all movements within Sri Lanka including civil society organizations to the enormous threat posed by the executive branch to the country’s legal system using the pretext of anti terrorism for destroying the concept of separation of powers in the country.
Despite lip service paid to the separation of powers, such separation cannot exist without a judiciary capable of protecting the individual through the law. Attacks on fair trial and the legal profession make the very existence of courts a meaningless affair. This puts the country’s governance solely in the hands of the executive.
All Sri Lankans along with those concerned with human rights globally should study and comprehend the attacks on the independent legal profession taking place in Sri Lanka.
One must realize that the wider objective of such attacks is to destroy the very possibility of the rule of law and democracy in the country.
Source:Lawyers in Sri Lanka threatened
Filed under: attorney general, civil war, corruption, human rights, justice, media, politics, rule of law, Sri Lanka, Supreme Court, violations
