Reference to two late Supreme Court Judges
 

BY SARATH Malalasekera

THE Bench and the Bar made reference to two late Supreme Court Judges, Justice D.P.S. Gunasekera and Justice Dr. A. de Z. Gunawardena at the ceremonial court of the Supreme Court recently.

Associated on the Bench with Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva, PC, on the occasion were Justice Dr. Shirani A. Bandaranayake, Justice T.B. Weerasuriya, Justice Nihal Jayasinghe, Justice Shirani Tillekewardene, Justice N. K. Udalagama, Justice Nimal E. Dissanayake, Justice Raja Fernando, Justice Nimal Gamini Amaratunga and Justice Saleem Marsoof PC.

President Court Appeal and other Judges of the Court of Appeal, High Court Judges, Judges of the Colombo District Court, Colombo Chief Magistrate and Additional Magistrates were accommodated on the dais.

Supreme Court Registrar Bandula Atapattu and Ms. Nilmini De Silva officiated.

Senior and Junior members of the Official and Unofficial Bar, members of the families of the two late Judges were present at the ceremony.

Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva PC addressing the ceremonial court said that. "We are assembled here, to make a respectful reference to Hon. D.P.S. Gunasekera and Hon. Dr. A. De Z. Gunawardena, who were Judges of this Court and passed away in October and November 2004.

We are indeed deeply grieved by the somewhat untimely demise of two of our former colleagues who sat on the Bench of this Court. I have been personally associated with Hon. Gunasekera and Hon. Dr. Gunawardena for several decades.

I have had the honour of being their colleague in the Attorney-General's Department for several years and later as Judges in the Court of Appeal.

On 19th December 1996 I had the privilege, then as Attorney-General to welcome Hon. Gunawardena as a Judge of this Court. Similarly on 24th October I had the privilege of welcoming Hon. Gunasekera, as a member of this Court.

Late Justice Gunasekera, had his early education at Trinity College, Kandy and he maintained throughout an abiding link with his alma mater. He was the last old Trinitian to be awarded the Trinity Lion for his achievements in the field of Law.

Having been a school-mate of his, I vividly recall, his easy way of life, the popularity amongst fellow students, and his remarkable achievements both in studies and in sports. He carried through this record of all round excellence at the Law Faculty in the University of Peradeniya.

In 1971 he joined the Attorney-General's Department and considering the experience gained at the Bar, then Attorney-General took the unprecedented step of immediately assigning him the task of prosecuting in criminal cases at the heavy Assize Sessions at Matara. He acquired a high reputation as a fair and effective prosecutor.

He was awarded a scholarship by the Government and he secured Master of Laws Degree with Honours from the University of Brussels.

He was promoted as Senior State Counsel and in 1983 he was appointed as a Judge of the High Court of Sri Lanka. His summings up to the jury and judgements were invariably sustained in appeal. He was appointed as a Judge of the Court of Appeal in 1988 and later as the President of that Court.

Late Justice Gunasekera brought to the Attorney-General's Department and the judiciary his varied experience of a simple village life in Sri Lanka. He never lost the common touch and associated freely with people of all walks of life.

The early demise of his wife brought much sorrow to his life late Justice Gunasekera, to his unswearing spirit, looked after his two daughters Sonali and Aranthi, who were young in years and brought them up to a state of stability in life they in turn cared late Justice Gunasekera, especially during the last period in which he was seriously ill and unconscious.

"We would always remember him for the great contribution he had made to" the Attorney-General's Department and to the Judiciary of this country, the Chief Justice said.

Late Justice Dr. A. De Z. Gunawardena was a product of St. Thomas College, Mt. Lavinia. His father was a legal practitioner at the Balapitiya Bar. His brother was also a member of the Judiciary.

Having been enrolled as an Advocate of this Court in 1967 he joined the Attorney-General's Department in 1972. He was promoted as a Senior State Counsel and later as Deputy Solicitor General in 1978.

Late Justice Gunawardena was enrolled as a Barrister-at-Law of the High Court of Australia and the Supreme Court of New South Wales in 1984. He was awarded a Doctorate by the University of Sydney in 1986. The topic of the thesis was "Some aspects of the Law Governing International Investments; Third World programmes."

Later he was awarded a Diploma in Human Rights by the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of the University of Land, Sweden and has been invited to attend several international seminars at which he presented some well researched papers, some of which have been published in prestigious journals.

He was appointed to the Court of Appeal in 1988 and also served as the President of that Court.

Considering the high academic achievements and international experience he was appointed a Judge of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) by a vote at the United Nations General Assembly with effect from 31st May 99.

He was also appointed as a Judge of the Appeal Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia in September 2001.

These two tribunals were the highest International Courts set up by the UN to establish and enforce International Law with regard to genocide.

He was re-elected for a second 4 year term as a Judge of the ICTR in January 2003, being the only Sri Lankan to be elected to a post twice by the General Assembly.

It is indeed unfortunate that due to ill-health he was not able to derive the full benefit of his achievements by which he brought honour not to this Court but also to Sri Lanka as a whole. He is survived by his wife Kanthi and children Onil and Chandima.

"A record of these proceedings will be made and the Registrar of this Court is directed to forward a copy to the members of the bereaved families so that they would know that we too share their grief", the Chief Justice said.