New judge sworn into office |08 May 2013

Also present were Vice-President Danny Faure, speaker of the National Assembly Dr Patrick Herminie, the chief justice of the Supreme Court Frederick Egonda-Ntende, the president of the Court of Appeal Francis MacGregor, attorney general Ronny Govinden and the judges of the Supreme Court and of the Court of Appeal as well as members of the Constitutional Appointments Authority.

President Michel expressed his congratulations to Justice De Silva after taking up his post.
Mr Michel said Mr de Silva will have an important contribution to the service of justice to the people of Seychelles and the improvement of the efficiency of the judiciary.
Mr de Silva is the seventh serving judge of the Supreme Court of Seychelles.

He is a Sri Lankan national with broad legal experience in criminal, civil as well as commercial matters.

In 1978, he served as senior state counsel in the office of the attorney general and later as judge of the High Court of Sri Lanka.

In 2004 he was appointed as a judge of the United Nations’ Special Court in East Timor. In 2010, he served as judge in the Civil High Court of Sri Lanka.

Mr de Silva holds a Master Degree in Law from the University of Colombo and a Post Graduate Diploma from the University of Northumbria, UK.

Commending Seychellois for maintaining the environment clean, Mr de Silva said he is happy our laws are very similar to those of Sri Lanka, adding the ongoing review of the Civil Code is most welcome as it will make things easier for example by removing repetitions in the law.