Mr. Elmore Perera, a 74-year-old lawyer who has devoted most of his time to public interest litigation was suspended yesterday, 26th June from his practice for seven years by the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka, which issued a rule against him on the basis of purported contempt of court. The use of contempt of court in Sri Lanka has been criticised by the United Nations Human Rights Committee in the case of Michael Anthony (Tony) Emmanuel Fernando, in which the committee pointed out the lack of legislation in Sri Lanka regarding contempt of court. The Bar Association of Sri Lanka has also agitated for a long time for a law on contempt of court and has even submitted a draft law for this purpose. However, at present there is no such law to limit the exercise of the jurisdiction of the courts and lay down the principles on which such matters must be decided.
The alleged reasons for this suspension are that Elmore Perera continued to read from a petition when he was told by the court to stop doing so and to address matters of law. He was further accused of using intemperate language, which was never specified and gesticulations intended to bring the proceedings of the court into ridicule and contempt. What the specific gesticulations were, that could have brought ridicule and contempt to the court has also not been specified.
The rule does not mention the identity of the complainant against Mr. Perera in this case. The case has proceeded on the basis that, as the alleged acts have been reported as having happened before the court, no further proof of such acts was necessary.
Originally Mr. Perera had gone to court as a petitioner himself to complain that his right to practice his profession as a lawyer had been hampered by the failure to constitutionally appoint members of the Judicial Service Commission, when two out of the three commissioners resigned on the grounds that they had problems with the Chief Justice, who was the chairperson of the commission. The alleged incident which gave rise to the ruling happened in the course of the inquiry into Mr. Pereras petition.
Mr. Perera is a former senior civil servant who held the post of Surveyor General of Sri Lanka and Additional Director, Training and Evaluation of the Civil Service. He is also presently the president of the Organisation of Professional Associations. As the president he has been outspoken about the failure to appoint the Constitutional Council under the 17th Amendment to the Constitution by the ruling regime.
After the charges were made Mr. Perera through his lawyers sought to contest the charges. However, the only option that was open to them was to admit to the charges and to seek pardon. Mr. Perera refused to admit to the charges or to seek pardon as in his opinion he was not guilty of any conduct that might have brought disrepute or contempt to the court.
The Asian Human Rights Commission has consistently opposed the action that was brought against Mr. Perera, in particular and the abuse of contempt of court proceedings in Sri Lanka. The details of Mr. Pereras case as reported by the AHRC can be found in a statement issued on 18 October, 2006. Kindly see: http://www.ahrchk.net/statements/mainfile.php/2006statements/778/.
