The Sirisena-Wickremasinghe government of Sri Lanka is rushing to push through a law that will establish a special criminal courts system to function outside the regular court system in order to target political opponents. The government whip minister Gayantha Karunathilaka presented the bill, as an amendment to the Judicature Act, to the Parliament on March 05.
The system of Courts called Permanent High Courts at Bar, branded by the ruling United National Party chiefs as Anti-Corruption High Courts will have powers to hear the cases selectively filed in the form of direct indictment by the Attorney General and the Director General for the Prevention of Bribary and Corruption(DGPBC). The judges are nominated by the Judicial Service Commission and the Minister can decide the number and place of the Courts. Under the normal procedure it is the Chief Justice who can appoint a trial-at-bar to hear gruesome cases of murder and rape, while the proposed law will institute permanent trial-at-bar courts and vest the power of initiating cases on the executive and administrative authorities.
The scheduled offences triable by these Courts include almost all financial and public property related offences including bribary and corruption and money laundering. The courts must hear the cases on day-to-day basis and conclude expeditiously.
The bill as a whole is unconstitutional and anti-democratic. The sole discretion of instituting action in these Courts against arbitrarily selected suspects is placed on the Attorney General and the DGPBC without any oversight either by way of a magisterial inquiry or by the Commission to Investigate Bribery or Corruption respectively, contrary to the regular procedure. It usurps the right of an accused for a fair trial and impinges upon independence of the judiciary.
The bill is exemplary of the practice of successive governments of Sri Lanka notoriously exploiting its courts and the legal system to suppress working class struggles and intimidate political opponents.
Backed by United States to change the regime of former president Mahinda Rajapakshe in order to distance the island from the influence of China to suit US geo-strategic demands within the region, the Sirisena-Wickremasinghe government was installed in January 2015, claiming to fight against corruption and establish good governance. Since then, the government has been targeting Rajapakshes and members of his Joint Opposition for various allegations of corruption, though this campaign subsided in the backdrop of the revelations of of the bond scam directly implicating chiefs of the ruling United National Party(UNP).
In August last year, in response to several ministers blaming government during Parliament sessions for failing to take actions against the frauds and corruption of the Rajapakshe government, Ministers Rajitha Senarathna, Patali Champika Ranawaka, Mangala Samaraweera and Sarath Fonseka called to setup a separate court to hear the cases of corruption and frauds during the last government. The ministers were aware of the rapid growth of public discontent about the government which could keep to none of the election promises, while Rajapakshe faction was to benefit from the aggravating circumstances. The revival of the anti-corruption campaign was to divert the public dissatisfaction against the government.
President Sirisena hypocritically blamed, also in August last year, that his government has "failed to put an end to corruption and waste". In January, after the report on the Central Bank bond scam was released and addressing a local government election rally, he declared he would ensure that the corrupt politicians from whatever party would be sent to prison and then to hell before he quit office. He tweeted "my term ends the day corrupt politicians, murderers and thieves are brought to justice.”
Malik Smarawickrama, UNP Chairman and Development Strategies and International Trade Minister told media in January, " the UNP is putting an end to the days of rampant corruption under the previous regime that robbed people of their future" and that it is " strengthening [our] courts and forcing through reforms that will enable us to properly prosecute those under the previous government that stand guilty of corruption".
The bill was brought under severe circumstances of economic instability, growing class tensions and massive financial scandals. Between 2019 and 2022 the government has to pay US $ 3.6 billion annually as debt-repayments. The cash-strapped government has been compelled to implement more austerity measures dictated by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in order to receive financial assistance and face militant struggles against budget cuts, tax-hikes and for pay increases by the working class, youth and the rural poor.
The coalition went to further political crisis in the aftermath of the local government elections in early February, which exposed widespread opposition to the ruling parties. The newly-formed Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), led by Rajapakse, could win control of the majority of local councils, on the basis of widespread public dissatisfaction over government's austerity measures and pro-imperialist policies. Amidst the crisis of the coalition after the election results, the US and Indian government stepped into "advise" that the ruling parties continued the coalition, which led to a sham cabinet reshuffle.
Seven years after the lifting of emergency rule in Sri Lanka, in early March, Sirisena declared State of Emergency on the backdrop of the anti-Muslim violence carried out by a Sinhala-Buddhist racist mob in the central Kandy district, fomented by the Sri Lankan ruling class to divert the growing working-class opposition to its austerity program. The government capitalized the racist provocations to ban social media for a week. Last week, Wickremasinghe unveiled the government's plan to introduce laws to regulate freedom of speech over the internet.
Since January, the Joint Opposition led by Rajapakshe was gathering support for a no-confidence motion against Wickremasinghe, on the basis of his alleged involvement in the bond scam, which was handed over to the speaker of the parliament last week(21st).
Countering the fragility of the ruling government requires that its political opponents are suppressed at any cost. While Rajapakshe and his associates will be prime target in view of the general election to come, these new laws will be employed against any political faction to compel continued support for the coalition.
Several members of the Joint Opposition proceeded to the Supreme Courts challenging the bill. The Rajapakshe and his faction has no concern whatsoever of the democratic rights and living standards of the broad masses. Instead, they are worried about the growing threats against their survival and deprivation of their privileges. Once coming into power, they will also use these laws to suppress any political opposition in turn.
The anti-corruption crusade is the slogan of many oppressive regimes all over the world, including those of Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa, Xi Jingping of China to Rodrigo Duterte of Phillipine. They exploit rampant corruption, which is endemic in the capitalist nation state system, to sideline political opposition and to divert working class fighting against social counter- revolution, leading to anti-democratic and authoritarian rule.
The system of Courts called Permanent High Courts at Bar, branded by the ruling United National Party chiefs as Anti-Corruption High Courts will have powers to hear the cases selectively filed in the form of direct indictment by the Attorney General and the Director General for the Prevention of Bribary and Corruption(DGPBC). The judges are nominated by the Judicial Service Commission and the Minister can decide the number and place of the Courts. Under the normal procedure it is the Chief Justice who can appoint a trial-at-bar to hear gruesome cases of murder and rape, while the proposed law will institute permanent trial-at-bar courts and vest the power of initiating cases on the executive and administrative authorities.
The scheduled offences triable by these Courts include almost all financial and public property related offences including bribary and corruption and money laundering. The courts must hear the cases on day-to-day basis and conclude expeditiously.
The bill as a whole is unconstitutional and anti-democratic. The sole discretion of instituting action in these Courts against arbitrarily selected suspects is placed on the Attorney General and the DGPBC without any oversight either by way of a magisterial inquiry or by the Commission to Investigate Bribery or Corruption respectively, contrary to the regular procedure. It usurps the right of an accused for a fair trial and impinges upon independence of the judiciary.
The bill is exemplary of the practice of successive governments of Sri Lanka notoriously exploiting its courts and the legal system to suppress working class struggles and intimidate political opponents.
Backed by United States to change the regime of former president Mahinda Rajapakshe in order to distance the island from the influence of China to suit US geo-strategic demands within the region, the Sirisena-Wickremasinghe government was installed in January 2015, claiming to fight against corruption and establish good governance. Since then, the government has been targeting Rajapakshes and members of his Joint Opposition for various allegations of corruption, though this campaign subsided in the backdrop of the revelations of of the bond scam directly implicating chiefs of the ruling United National Party(UNP).
In August last year, in response to several ministers blaming government during Parliament sessions for failing to take actions against the frauds and corruption of the Rajapakshe government, Ministers Rajitha Senarathna, Patali Champika Ranawaka, Mangala Samaraweera and Sarath Fonseka called to setup a separate court to hear the cases of corruption and frauds during the last government. The ministers were aware of the rapid growth of public discontent about the government which could keep to none of the election promises, while Rajapakshe faction was to benefit from the aggravating circumstances. The revival of the anti-corruption campaign was to divert the public dissatisfaction against the government.
President Sirisena hypocritically blamed, also in August last year, that his government has "failed to put an end to corruption and waste". In January, after the report on the Central Bank bond scam was released and addressing a local government election rally, he declared he would ensure that the corrupt politicians from whatever party would be sent to prison and then to hell before he quit office. He tweeted "my term ends the day corrupt politicians, murderers and thieves are brought to justice.”
Malik Smarawickrama, UNP Chairman and Development Strategies and International Trade Minister told media in January, " the UNP is putting an end to the days of rampant corruption under the previous regime that robbed people of their future" and that it is " strengthening [our] courts and forcing through reforms that will enable us to properly prosecute those under the previous government that stand guilty of corruption".
The bill was brought under severe circumstances of economic instability, growing class tensions and massive financial scandals. Between 2019 and 2022 the government has to pay US $ 3.6 billion annually as debt-repayments. The cash-strapped government has been compelled to implement more austerity measures dictated by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in order to receive financial assistance and face militant struggles against budget cuts, tax-hikes and for pay increases by the working class, youth and the rural poor.
The coalition went to further political crisis in the aftermath of the local government elections in early February, which exposed widespread opposition to the ruling parties. The newly-formed Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), led by Rajapakse, could win control of the majority of local councils, on the basis of widespread public dissatisfaction over government's austerity measures and pro-imperialist policies. Amidst the crisis of the coalition after the election results, the US and Indian government stepped into "advise" that the ruling parties continued the coalition, which led to a sham cabinet reshuffle.
Seven years after the lifting of emergency rule in Sri Lanka, in early March, Sirisena declared State of Emergency on the backdrop of the anti-Muslim violence carried out by a Sinhala-Buddhist racist mob in the central Kandy district, fomented by the Sri Lankan ruling class to divert the growing working-class opposition to its austerity program. The government capitalized the racist provocations to ban social media for a week. Last week, Wickremasinghe unveiled the government's plan to introduce laws to regulate freedom of speech over the internet.
Since January, the Joint Opposition led by Rajapakshe was gathering support for a no-confidence motion against Wickremasinghe, on the basis of his alleged involvement in the bond scam, which was handed over to the speaker of the parliament last week(21st).
Countering the fragility of the ruling government requires that its political opponents are suppressed at any cost. While Rajapakshe and his associates will be prime target in view of the general election to come, these new laws will be employed against any political faction to compel continued support for the coalition.
Several members of the Joint Opposition proceeded to the Supreme Courts challenging the bill. The Rajapakshe and his faction has no concern whatsoever of the democratic rights and living standards of the broad masses. Instead, they are worried about the growing threats against their survival and deprivation of their privileges. Once coming into power, they will also use these laws to suppress any political opposition in turn.
The anti-corruption crusade is the slogan of many oppressive regimes all over the world, including those of Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa, Xi Jingping of China to Rodrigo Duterte of Phillipine. They exploit rampant corruption, which is endemic in the capitalist nation state system, to sideline political opposition and to divert working class fighting against social counter- revolution, leading to anti-democratic and authoritarian rule.
