Sri Lanka's parliament approves constitutional amendment to extend judge terms

COLOMBO, Sept 25 - Sri Lanka's parliament approved an amendment to the island nation's constitution on Friday to extend superior court judges' tenure by two years as part of measures to clear a large backlog of cases and reduce prisoner numbers after deadly prison riots.• Delayed proceedings, which often drag on for years, have fuelled a crisis across Sri Lanka's prison network, where 22 facilities built for about 11,000 inmates now hold more than 41,000 — including thousands of remand prisoners yet to be tried.• The move follows two recent prison riots that killed 31 people, including 10 prison officials, and injured dozens more.• The amendment seeks to reduce a backlog of an estimated 1.1 million court cases, according to the country's justice ministry.• The 22nd amendment to Sri Lanka's constitution was approved with a two-thirds majority by the 225-member house.• The constitutional amendment will extend the tenure of Supreme Court, Appeals Court and High Court judges and of the Chief Justice by two years each.• A separate draft bill to extend the tenure of district and magistrate judges by two years was approved as well.• Bimal Rathnayake, Leader of the House, told lawmakers ahead of the vote: "This constitutional amendment is purely to support judicial reforms. This is why there isn't any significant protest from the masses."• Sri Lanka's main opposition, the Samagi Jana Balawegaya, wore black to parliament and protested the amendment, contending that it undermined judicial independence. REUTERS