[ALOCHONA] From BBC Online : Courts to Choose Bangladesh Judges

Court to choose Bangladesh judges
By Mark Dummett
BBC News, Dhaka

Courts will now be able to function 'free from interference'

Bangladesh's legal system has been officially declared free from government control.

For the first time its judges and magistrates will now be impartially appointed by the Supreme Court rather than by politicians.

The army-backed caretaker government says that the latest reforms are part of continuing efforts to clean up Bangladesh's corrupt institutions.

It says the measures are necessary so that free elections can be held.

Corruption

Interim prime minister Fakhruddin Ahmed declared the official separation of the judiciary from the executive at a ceremony in the capital, Dhaka.

He said the courts and the judges would now be able to establish the rule of law away from the interference of ministers.

The government says that by handing over the power to nominate judges and magistrates of the Supreme Court, it is massively reducing the ability of politicians to influence the legal system.

It accuses Bangladesh's two main parties of taking the country to the brink of anarchy last year and of corrupting every aspect of public life.

Since coming to power with the backing of the military in January, the interim government of non-political technocrats has declared emergency law and arrested dozens of high-profile figures on corruption charges.

The first big test of Bangladesh's new independent judiciary will be how it manages their trials, including those of the two former Prime Ministers, Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia.

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