The Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) has decided to seek the intervention of President Mahinda Rajapaksa to remove an article posted in the Defence Ministry website, after an appeal by the Association to the defence authorities to remove the item which named five lawyers as ‘traitors’ was ignored.
The article under the heading ‘Traitors in black coats flocked together?” referred to five lawyers who represented Leader Publications in a case against Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa as ‘traitors’.
“On Monday we sent a letter to Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa requesting the removal of the article and highlighted that every person has a legal right to be represented by a lawyer and that lawyers have a duty to appear for such persons”, said BASL president W. Dayaratne.
He said that although the request was made to the Defence Secretary to remove the article, the item was still remaining in the website for more than one week. Mr. Dayaratne said that a special committee consisting senior members of the BASL will be meeting on Wednesday to decide on future measures with regard to this.
“It is likely that we would decide to make an appointment to meet the President. This posting in the website took place when he was not in the country therefore he might consider our request,” he said.
Mr. Dayaratne said that any lawyer has the right to appear for even the worst criminal and that is a duty of a lawyer.
“Only if there are lawyers on both sides would a case be properly heard,” he said.
The BASL in a press release condemned the publication of an article in the defence website stating the article together with the heading created the impression that lawyers who appear against the Defence Secretary are ‘traitors’.
“The BASL condemns any and all endeavours to prevent lawyers appearing for clients and or clients having the services of lawyers and will resist any pressure exerted to prevent persons retaining lawyers and or lawyers appearing for clients,” he said. The website mentioned the names of Attorneys Srinath Perera, Upul Jayasuriya, S. Sumanthiran, Viran Corea, and Instructing Attorney Athula Ranagala. |
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