IPU’s Trowell QC to observe court proceedings on Rishad

The Geneva-based Inter - Parliamentary Union’s (IPU) Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians informed the Sri Lankan Parliament that the committee assigned Queen’s Counsel Mark Trowell to visit Sri Lanka and observe proceedings in cases instituted against Industry and Commerce Minister Rishad Bathiudeen, a release said yesterday.

The assignment of Trowell, QC by the IPU follows representations to the IPU by Bathiudeen of attempts by pro-LTTE groups in the North to falsely implicate him in demonstrations in Mannar.

Minister Bathiudeen in an appeal to the IPU expressed fear that the Bar Association of Sri Lanka having pre-judged the incident without calling for a full and fair investigation, held a nationwide boycott of judicial proceedings.

The minister also said the Bar Association, even before any investigation was launched, resolved at a hastily summoned ex-co meeting that his conduct amounted to ‘contempt of court’ ignoring altogether his side of the events.

The IPU was established in 1889 as a focal point for worldwide dialogue amongst Parliamentarians, According to an IPU overview, the Committee on Human Rights of Parliamentarians (CHRP) was established in 1976 to protect Parliamentarians from abuses.