Mohan Peiris | |
---|---|
De facto Chief Justice of Sri Lanka | |
In office 15 January 2013 –28 January 2015 | |
Appointed by | Mahinda Rajapaksa |
Preceded by | Shirani Bandaranayake |
Succeeded by | Shirani Bandaranayake |
41st Attorney General of Sri Lanka | |
In office 2008–2011 | |
Appointed by | Mahinda Rajapaksa |
Preceded by | C. R. De Silva |
Succeeded by | Shanthi Eva Wanasundera |
Personal details | |
Spouse | Priyanthi Peiris |
Children | Talia Peiris |
Alma mater | St. Joseph's College,Colombo Royal College Colombo Sri Lanka Law College |
Profession | Attorney-at-law |
Peter Mohan Maithree Peiris,PC is a Sri Lankan lawyer and diplomat. He served as the Attorney General of Sri Lanka from 2008 to 2011 and was the de facto Chief Justice of Sri Lanka from 2013 to 2015 when President Maithripala Sirisena declared his appointment void ab initio in 2015. [1] [2] He has been serving as the Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations since January 2021 and was elected Vice President of the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly in June 2023.
Peiris was educated at St. Joseph's College,Colombo and Royal College,Colombo. [3] [4] He played cricket for both schools. [3]
Following his schooling,Peiris entered the Sri Lanka Law College for his legal studies and was called to the bar on 19 June 1975 as an Attorney-at-law and became a Solicitor of the Courts of England and Wales in 1978. [3] [5] He started his legal practice working under senior lawyers Daya Perera and D. R. P. Gunatilleke after qualifying.
Peiris joined the Attorney General's Department in 1981 as a state counsel,later becoming a senior state counsel. [3] During this time he was trained at the National Institute of Trial Advocacy of the Harvard Law School,at the Centre for Police and Criminal Justice Studies of the Jesus College,Cambridge and at George Washington University. He left the Attorney General's Department in 1996. [3]
After leaving the Attorney General's Department,he joined the unofficial bar engaging in private practice. He practiced in the original and appellate courts and specialized in areas of administrative law,commercial law,land law,fundamental rights and industrial law. [5]
Peiris was appointed Attorney General on 18 December 2008 from the unofficial bar. [6] He withdrew murder charges in a case against former deputy minister Chandana Kathriarachchi and served an indictment on unlawful assembly for which the accused pleaded guilty. [7] Furthermore,he withdrew a rape case against Government Party Parliamentarian Duminda Silva. [8]
Peiris was appointed senior legal officer to the Cabinet in September 2011. [9] He became Chairman of Seylan Bank in April 2012. [10]
He represented Sri Lanka in The UN Committee Against Torture in 2011 in which he said that the Sri Lankan Government has received intelligence information that missing lankaeNews cartoonist Prageeth Ekneligoda is living in a foreign country. However,he concurred that he lied when he was summoned by a local court. [11]
Peiris was nominated to be Chief Justice by President Mahinda Rajapaksa following the controversial impeachment of Shirani Bandaranayake. [12] [13] The Parliamentary Council gave its approval for Peiris's appointment on 15 January 2013. [14] [15] Peiris was sworn in as chief justice on 15 January 2013. [16] [17] Peiris was officially inaugurated as chief justice at a ceremony in the Supreme Court on 23 January 2013. [18] The media,other than the state-owned media,were banned from the ceremony which was boycotted by the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL),the largest lawyers association in the country. [19] [20] The ceremony was however attended by other judges including the associate judges of the Supreme Court. [21]
Peiris' appointment drew some criticism. Peiris is considered to be an ally of President Rajapaksa and his appointment was seen by critics as further consolidation of power by the president and his family. [22] [23] United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay expressed doubts about Peiris' independence and impartiality,particularly when dealing with allegations of serious human rights violations by the Sri Lankan government. [24] [25] The International Commission of Jurists condemned Peiris' appointment,describing it as a "further assault on the independence of the judiciary". [26] [27]
Maithripala Sirisena,the president elected on 8 January 2015,refused to take oaths before him on the basis his appointment was illegal and took oaths before Justice Hon. K. Sripavan,the most senior judge of the Supreme Court.
According to Sirisena,Mohan Peiris visited him several times begging not to remove him and promising to deliver judgements according to his wishes. [28]
On 28 January 2015,the Government of Sri Lanka acknowledged that the appointment of Mohan Peiris as the chief justice was void at its inception as Dr. Shirani Bandaranayake was not impeached lawfully and therefore,no vacancy existed for the post of chief justice. That paved the way for Dr. Shirani Bandaranayake to resume duties as the chief justice of Sri Lanka. [1]
Peiris was appointed the Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations in January 2021 by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. [5] In 2022,he was elected chair of the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) replacing Magzhan Ilyassov. [29] He was elected Vice President of the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly in June 2023. [30]
Peiris's wife Priyanthi is also an attorney-at-law. Their teenage daughter Talia died in July 2002. [31] Peiris is a Roman Catholic and is a worshipper at All Saints’Church,Borella. [32]
Mahinda Rajapaksa is a Sri Lankan politician. He served as the President of Sri Lanka from 2005 to 2015;the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka from 2004 to 2005,2018,and 2019 to 2022;the Leader of the Opposition from 2002 to 2004 and 2018 to 2019,and the Minister of Finance from 2005 to 2015 and 2019 to 2021. He has been a Member of Parliament (MP) for Kurunegala since 2015.
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A President's Counsel is an eminent lawyer who is appointed by the President of Sri Lanka as an individual "learned in the law". The term is an honorific that replaced the Queen's Counsel (QC),which Sri Lanka ceased appointing when it became a republic in 1972. It is equivalent to the appointment of a King's Counsel in the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms,and that of Senior Counsel in Commonwealth republics,bearing the same privileges,such as sitting within the Bar of court.
The chief justice of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is the head of the judiciary of Sri Lanka and the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka. Established in 1801,the chief justice is one of ten Supreme Court justices;the other nine are the puisne justices of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka. The post was created in 1801. The chief justice is nominated by the Constitutional Council,and appointed by the president. The first chief justice was Codrington Edmund Carrington. The 47th and current chief justice is Jayantha Jayasuriya.
Maithripala Yapa Sirisena is a Sri Lankan politician who served as the seventh President of Sri Lanka from 9 January 2015 to 18 November 2019. Sirisena is Sri Lanka's first president from the North Central Province of the country and does not belong to the traditional Sri Lankan political elite. He is currently a member of parliament from Polonnaruwa.
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Kanagasabapathy J. Sripavan is a Sri Lankan Tamil lawyer and judge. He was Deputy Solicitor General,judge and president of the Court of Appeal,Puisne Justice of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka and the 44th Chief Justice of Sri Lanka.
Shirani Bandaranayake,the 43rd Chief Justice of Sri Lanka,was impeached by Parliament and then removed from office by President Mahinda Rajapaksa in January 2013. Bandaranayake was accused of a number of charges including financial impropriety and interfering in legal cases,all of which she has denied. The impeachment followed a series of rulings against the government by the Supreme Court,including one against a bill proposed by Minister Basil Rajapaksa,President Rajapaksa's brother. Bandaranayake was replaced as chief justice by former Attorney General Mohan Peiris. Peiris is considered to be an ally of President Rajapaksa and his appointment is seen by critics as further consolidation of power by the president and his family. Bandaranayake refused to recognise the impeachment and lawyers groups refused to work with the new chief justice. Bandaranayake's controversial impeachment drew much criticism and concern from within and outside of Sri Lanka. On 28 January 2015 she was reinstated and retired on 29 January,the next day.
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