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BFF-46
SRILANKA-POLITICS-GOVERNMENT
Sri Lanka court refuses to test President’s sanity
COLOMBO, Jan 7, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – A Sri Lanka court Monday rejected calls
to subject the president to a mental health examination after he sacked a
former ally, dissolved parliament and plunged the country into crisis.
The Court of Appeal rejected a petition to force Maithripala Sirisena
before a panel of psychiatrists to scrutinise his mental state in the wake of
the political upheaval in the Indian Ocean island.
The turmoil began in October when Sirisena dismissed Sri Lanka’s prime
minister and dissolved parliament, both decisions later overturned by the
country’s highest court.
For more than a month, Sri Lanka drifted without a government as two rivals
jostled for the prime ministership and protests rocked the capital Colombo.
The instability ended peacefully when Sirisena’s controversial appointee
Mahinda Rajapakse stood down, and the deposed prime minister Ranil
Wickremesinghe returned to power with the support of parliament.
Mental infirmity is grounds for removing a president if two-thirds of
parliament agree, but no party or coalition in the legislature commands such
a majority.
The two-judge bench of the appeals court said it did not have the
jurisdiction to force Sirisena to be examined, and ordered the petitioner pay
the state 100,000 rupees ($540) in legal costs.
Sirisena came to power in 2015 in a coalition with Wickremesinghe. But
personal differences festered and their alliance imploded in October when
Sirisena kicked his former ally out of office.
Wickremesinghe refused to stand down and allow Rajapakse, a former
president and divisive war-era strongman, to take his place.
The crisis dragged on for weeks until the Supreme Court denied Rajapakse
the right to rule and he bowed out in December.
Some factions within Sri Lanka’s parliament have pushed for Sirisena to be
investigated for orchestrating an alleged coup.
BSS/AFP/ARS/1930 hrs