Sri Lankans protest ruling deeming chief justice unfit to hold office

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) - Hundreds of Sri Lankans protested on Monday against a parliamentary committee's ruling that the country's chief justice is unfit to hold office because of unexplained wealth and misuse of power.

Opposition lawmakers, lawyers and rights activists joined the protest in the capital, Colombo, demanding that the government halt an impeachment process against Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake.

The committee announced on Saturday that after investigating five of the 14 charges against Ms Bandaranayake, it found she was guilty of three of them. Ms Bandaranayake has denied all the allegations.

The ruling came after Ms Bandaranayake and four opposition members of the committee walked out of the hearing, saying they had no faith in the fairness of the process.