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For the third time in 30 years, Members of Parliament have launched impeachment proceedings against a Chief Justice of Sri Lanka setting the stage for a crucial struggle for the preservation of indepe...

A reflection on the 16th murder in Kahawatte, gruesome violence in Galle and the petition for impeachment The 16th murder of a woman took place at Kahawatte last week. The woman is said to be 65 years...

Dear friends, We wish to share with you the following article written by Tisaranee Gunasekara who is a Sri Lankan columnist based in Colombo Asian Human Rights Commission Hong Kong ——...

Dear friends, We wish to share with you the following article from the Sunday Times, Colombo, Sri Lanka, written by Kishali Pinto Jayawardena Asian Human Rights Commission Hong Kong ——...

Under the present circumstances and under the 1978 constitution, when the president does not want the Chief Justice, the president just tells them to get out and go home. The way he does it is called ...

The Rajapaksha Regime, through its parliamentarians, handed over an impeachment motion to the Speaker, the elder brother of the President Rajapaksha against the first woman Chief Justice of the countr...

The 18th Amendment to the Constitution, which ended all the debates and discussions on the 17th Amendment, brought an end to all independent public institutions in Sri Lanka. From that point on, only ...

The Sri Lankan government must immediately cease its assault on the independence of the judiciary, the International Commission of Jurists said in a new report released today. The 158-page report, Aut...

(Hong Kong, November 1, 2012) Janasansadaya has issued a YouTube presentation on the case of torture of Chaminda Sampath by the Bandaragama police. Chaminda says, “I was taken to the police stat...

After a series of attacks on the judiciary the Mahinda Rajapaksa government is now reported to be engaged in preparing papers for the impeachment of the Chief Justice (CJ). While the accusation agains...

‘An independent judiciary functions as a critical institutional mechanism providing a check and balance on the executive and legislative branches of a democratic society. The independence of thi...

In an earlier article we asked the question, “Can the legislature declare all automobiles to be rickshaws?” We must simplify the question by asking whether legislators have the right to be...

Appreciation on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the RCT (Photo Courtesy: Janasansadaya) On the occasion of the Rehabilitation and Research Centre for Torture Victims (RCT) celebrating its 30th...

The answer to that question is if the legislature can do whatever it likes, as it is becoming fashionable for some in Sri Lanka to say, it can also make such a declaration. The leader of the party tha...

The Lawyers’ for Democracy are concerned about the ongoing unprecedented mudslinging campaign and all forms of attacks against the Judiciary.  This has far reaching and repercussions on the rul...

The Mahinda Rajapaksa regime has resorted to the ugliest attack in Sri Lankan judicial history on the Supreme Court and the Chief Justice this week by using the state media as a slander machine and th...

Mahinda Rajapaksa’s government is now engaged in a ruthless attack on the Chief Justice, the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) and the independence of the judiciary in general. The immediate rea...

Making bad laws has become the hallmark of lawmaking in Sri Lanka for several decades now. The most recent example of the making of very bad laws is a bill which has recently been placed before parlia...

(Hong Kong, October 18, 2012) The Court of Appeal today ordered the retrial on the case of torture of Gerald Perera. The court quashed the order of the acquittal of four of the accused, M. Suresh Guna...

The proposed Code of Criminal Procedure (Special Provisions Act) will lead to an increase in the abuse of power, extortion, torture and custodial deaths. A bill placed before parliament as the Code of...