Magistrates To Meet Chief Justice Over Borry Touray's Sacking The Daily Observer July 13, 2000 Banjul - Some magistrates in the country will today have audience with the chief justice, Felix Lartey, to register their disappointment and disapproval about the sacking of their colleague, Magistrate Borry Touray, judicial sources told Daily Observer . Magistrate Touray was sacked shortly after he handed down a ruling in the case between the state and 24 members of the UDP, charged with the murder of APRC supporter, Alieu Njie. The sacked magistrate told the Independent newspaper that his sacking was "engineered" by the Office of the President and "only formalised by the Judicial Service Commission." A senior magistrate yesterday told this paper, "There is absolutely no reason given for Borry's dismissal. Magistrates have always suffered this kind of actions and we feel that it is time we make a strong protest against this actions." The protesting magistrate added, "We wish to express our deep concern about the position of the magistrates in general in this country and the whole process of judicial system and the maintenance of impartiality of the bench as a whole." The magistrate said the sacking of Borry Touray could not be justified, "because there is a proviso, and that is, the chief justice has the power to review decisions of magistrates." He also said there are legal provisions for aggrieved litigants to file appeals to contest a magistrate's decisions. "We will ask for his reinstatement. We have already briefed the Master (of High Court) about our planned meeting with the chief justice," the magistrate concluded. Contacted yesterday for confirmation of the planned meeting between the magistrates and the chef justice, the High Court Master, Ousman Jammeh, said, "Nobody briefed me. In any case, magistrates are free to come and see the chief justice at any time." ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html ----------------------------------------------------------------------------