Lawyers and lower courts judges to boycott courts tomorrow

| by A Special Correspondent from Colombo

( July 19, 2012, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) According to news reaching from Colombo, Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) has decided to boycott all courts tomorrow in support of the judges of lower courts who also will take similar action. This is to protest against the attack on two courts in Manner, the Magistrate’s Court and the High Court, allegedly on the instigation of a prominent minister in the government. 

This attack has been consequent to decision given by the Magistrate of Manner to evacuate number of persons who have taken the place of a group of other fishermen after chasing them from their movable fishing huts. The mobile fishing hut was attacked by a group of criminals. The Magistrate directed the police to apprehend the culprits. Soon after, a government minister contacted the Magistrate hoping to discourage him from placing legal sanctions on the perpetrators of the crime. Despite his attempts, the Magistrate insisted that the court order be carried out. It is believed that the attack occurred in response to this decision made by the Magistrate.

The Judicial Services Association has met in the afternoon today (19 July 2012) and discussed the issue and decided to boycott by the courts. The lawyers have also decided to supports the judges.