The BAR Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) has raised concerns over President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s recent comments in Parliament pertaining to President’s Counsel Saliya Peiris.
President Wickremesinghe had claimed that President’s Counsel Saliya Peiris was a ‘Political lawyer’ while commenting on the National Election Commission’s choice of counsel.
Issuing a statement, the BASL pointed out, “It is a basic right of any individual or corporate body to retain an Attorney-at-Law of their choice to represent their interests in legal proceedings and the members of the Bar have a duty to assist their clients before courts and other tribunals. This is a right of any person before the law, a professional duty of Attorneys-at-Law and a vital function to preserving the Rule of Law and the proper functioning of the legal system.”
The BASL also called upon the President and Members of Parliament to “exercise self-restraint” and to desist from making statements which will erode the confidence of the public in the legal system and undermine the independence of the judiciary both of which would ultimately lead to a serious erosion of the Rule of Law.
Full statement:
The Bar Council of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) on February 25th 2023 unanimously resolved to express its grave concern regarding the speech made by President Ranil Wickremesinghe in Parliament on 23rd February 2023, where he referred to Saliya Pieris, President’s Counsel, who was appearing for the National Elections Commission in the Supreme Court in a case connected with the conduct of the local government elections in the following manner:
ඒ කොමිසම ගිහින් ඒ වෙනුවට වෙන නීතිඥයෙක් තියාගෙන. සාලිය පීරිස් මැති තුමාව තියා ගත්තා. දැන් සාලිය පීරිස් මැතිතුමාව තියාගත්තාම සමහර මන්ත්‍රීවරුන් ආණ්ඩුවේ ඇවිල්ලා මට කිව්වා කොහොමද සාලිය පීරිස් තියාගන්නේ එයා දේශපාලනයේ ඉන්න නීතිඥයෙක්. එහෙනම් දේශපාලනයේ නැති නීතිඥයෙක් අරගන්න කියලා. නැත්නම් නීතිපති දෙන්න කියලා. ඉතින් මම කිව්වා. නීතිපතිව දෙන්න අමාරුයි මේ තත්වය ඇති වෙලා තියෙන්නේ. මම කිව්වා මම මැදිහත් වෙන්නේ නැ මේ අවස්ථාවේදී ඔබතුමලාට ඔන්නම් මේක අරගන්න කියලා. නීතිඥයෙක් අරගන්නවා නම් කිසිම පක්ෂයකට සම්බන්ධ නැති නීතිඥයෙක් අරගන්න ඕනේ කියල මම පිලිගන්නවා. මෙතන අරගත්තේ ආණ්ඩුවට බලයක් නැ මේ ආණ්ඩුව ක්‍රියාත්මක කරන්න බෑ ඇත්ත වශයෙන්ම ගත්තේ නීතිඥයෙක් ඊට වඩා හොඳයි මේ සජබෙ නැත්නම් ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණේ ඉන්න නීතිඥයෙක් අරගෙන ක්‍රියා කරා නම්
The quoted portion of the President’s speech in Parliament was given wide publicity in the media.
It is a basic right of any individual or corporate body to retain an Attorney-at-Law of their choice to represent their interests in legal proceedings and the members of the Bar have a duty to assist their clients before courts and other tribunals. This is a right of any person before the law, a professional duty of Attorneys-at-Law and a vital function to preserving the Rule of Law and the proper functioning of the legal system.
Article 16 of the Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers adopted by the United Nations (on 7th September 1990) sets out that:
“Governments shall ensure that lawyers (a) are able to perform all of their professional functions without intimidation, hindrance, harassment or improper interference; …”
The fact that a senior member of the legal profession in Sri Lanka has been subject to personal attacks for representing clients, more so being called a “political lawyer” by the Head of State under the cover of the protection of immunity and privilege is a matter of serious concern.
The above statement was made by the President in the morning hours of the 23rd of January 2023 during a vote called by the opposition on the declaration of essential services where the President also commented on an Affidavit tendered by the National Elections Commission to the Supreme Court in a case that was fixed to be taken up in the afternoon on the same day, in the following manner:
අද විශේෂයෙන්ම මැතිවරණ කොමිසම දැන් මේ ඡන්දය ගැන උසාවියට ගිහින් කියනවා ලු ඡන්දයක් පවත්වන්න බැහැ කියලා. නමුත් ඇත්ත වශයෙන්ම මෙතන ගිය දිවුරුම් පෙත්සම දුන්නම මම හිතුව වචන ස්වල්පයක් කථා කරන්න …
Thereafter, the President proceeds to respond to certain averments in the said Affidavit.
It is a cause for concern that the President should comment on ongoing proceedings before the Supreme Court just a few hours before the case was to be taken up and comes just days after the media reported that the President made the following statement:
“Upcoming election is not a means to change the govt. The court is expected to make a decision on the election date. However, the country’s economic problem is not something that can be resolved through legal action, even if all judges, including the CJ, are involved”
In a speech to the 21st Commonwealth Law Conference in Zambia in 2019 Lord Burnett of Maldon, the Lord Chief Justice of England & Wales, commenting on the abuse of parliamentary privilege stated that he was concerned with the rare instances “when Parliamentarians have spoken in Parliament in ways that have failed to respect the principle of comity and have not left the courts free to administer justice.” Lord Burnett goes on to state “… Yet the scope for abuse, not only in the context of the defiance of court orders, is great indeed in the absence of appropriate self-restraint or effective rules determined and enforced by Parliament itself”.
The BASL calls upon the President and Members of Parliament to “exercise self-restraint” and to desist from making statements which will erode the confidence of the public in the legal system and undermine the independence of the judiciary both of which would ultimately lead to a serious erosion of the Rule of Law.
This decision to express grave concern regarding the President’s statements which pose a serious threat to the Rule of Law by a statement of the Bar Council was unanimously adopted on a motion moved by the Deputy President, Anura Meddegoda PC. Several members of the Bar Council seconded the motion and no member spoke against it. The Deputy President of the BASL chaired the debate on the motion as Saliya Pieris PC, the President of the BASL, recused himself when the motion was moved as an ‘Urgent Matter’ at the meeting of the Bar Council. (NewsWire)