Sri Lanka begins impeachment of chief justice

Sri Lanka’s parliament Friday began an impeachment hearing against the country’s chief justice, defying a Supreme Court request for a suspension of proceedings.

Shirani Bandaranayake, the first woman to be Sri Lanka’s top judge, went before a Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) for the first time to answer allegations of financial and official misconduct, sources said.

After nearly three hours of closed-door talks, the PSC scheduled the next hearing for December 4 and turned down her request for more time to prepare a full defence, a source told AFP asking not to be named.

The Supreme Court had on Thursday asked the parliament to consider suspending the impeachment move pending hearings into nine cases challenging the legality of the moves to sack 54-year-old Bandaranayake.

“All government MPs in the PSC voted to deny the Supreme Court request to suspend the proceedings,” a opposition legislator told AFP, asking for anonymity because he was not authorised to talk.

Rights groups have said the impeachment is the latest sign of efforts by President Mahinda Rajapakse to tighten his grip on power after crushing the Tamil Tiger separatist rebels in 2009 at the end of a decades-long war.