President’s Counsel Saliya Pieris has been elected as the President of the Bar association of Sri Lanka (BASL) for 2021-2022.
Today’s election was a battle between two prominent President’s Counsel Saliya Pieris and Kuvera de Zoysa.
President’s Counsel Saliya Pieris polled 5093 votes while his opponent President’s Counsel Kuvera de Zoysa polled 2707 votes.
Voting was held in 85 Bar Association centres countrywide where around 17,000 registered lawyers were eligible to vote.
Who is Saliya Peiris ?
Saliya Pieris P.C. heads his Law Chambers, practicing in the areas of Criminal law, Public law and Fundamental Rights in the Appellate and Original Courts.
He was appointed in February 2018 as the first Chairman of the Office on Missing Persons, a new institution established as part of Sri Lanka’s reconciliation mechanism. Between October 2015 to March 2018 he was a Member of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka. He was Deputy President of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka from 2015 to 2017. Has been an advocate for the strengthening of human rights, a strong and independent Bar in Sri Lanka and consistently stood for the Rule of Law and the Independence of the judiciary. He played a prominent role in the lawyers’ campaign against the impeachment of Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake of Sri Lanka. He is a lecturer in law and has contributed many papers and articles on law and politics. He holds a Masters Degree in International Business Law from the University of London. Is an Eisenhower Fellow. Is an alumni of the Dealing With the Past (DwP) Programme, Switzerland and IVLP, USA.
