US embassy cable - 04COLOMBO807

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 COLOMBO 000807 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR ECA/PE/V/M ISABELLE ZSOLDOS/AZZA MOUNIB-ZAKI; 
INFO ECA/PE/V/R/N/-LARRY A. MOODY, SA/PD 
 
E.O.12958: N/A 
TAGS: OEXC, KPAO, SCUIL, OEXC - Exchanges 
SUBJECT:  FY 05 IV PROGRAM: SRI LANKAN NOMINEE FOR MRP 
"U.S. JUDICIAL SYSTEM I" NOVEMBER 18-DECEMBER 9, 2004. 
PROJECT NO. E/VM-2005-0006 
 
REF: COLOMBO 00765 
 
1. Post nominates Saliya K.M. "Pieris", Attorney-at Law, 
Supreme Court of Sri Lanka for participation in subject 
project.  Post confirms that this nomination has "full 
country team approval." 
 
2. Nomination is as follows: 
 
START FIXED-FORMAT TEXT (PLEASE DO NOT EDIT): 
: The following data is in a fixed format which enables 
: automated processing in Washington and should not be 
: edited except by means of the Post-EVDB software. 
EXPORT-SOURCE: POST-EVDB 
VERSION: 3.0.7 
POST-EMAIL: tilakawardenac@state.gov 
TRANSMITTING-POST: PAS  Colombo 
TRANSMITTING-POST-ID: 2929 
EXPORT-TYPE: BIO DATA 
START NOMINATION: 
ECA-OFFICE: E/VGN 
PROG-AGENCY-NAME: 
POST-PROJ-ID: 122 
ECA-PROJ-NO: E/VM-2005-0006 
PROJ-NAME: U.S. Judicial System I - November 18-December 9, 
2004 
START MEMO PROJ-DESC: 
 
END MEMO PROJ-DESC: 
PROJ-TYPE: Multi-Regional 
PROG-TYPE: IV Grant Visitor 
FY: 2004 
DEPART-POST: 11/16/2004 
SESSION-DATE: 11/18/2004 
RETURN-POST: 12/11/2004 
NO-OF-PART: 1 
RANK-ORDER: 0 
START MEMO POST-OBJ: 
This nomination is in support of MPP goal "Supporting Human 
Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law". 
END MEMO POST-OBJ: 
START MEMO POST-RCMD: 
 
END MEMO POST-RCMD: 
ECA-OFFICE-ID: 1039 
PROG-AGENCY-ID: 
PROJ-TYPE-ID: MRP 
PROG-TYPE-ID: 29 
NOMINATING-POST-ID: 2929 
FUNDING-CNTRY-ID: 
STATUS: N 
ORIGINATOR: U 
SUBJ-DISC: Judicial System 
START BIO: 
PREFIX: Mr. 
F-NAME: Saliya Kithsiri 
M-NAME: Mark 
L-NAME: PIERIS 
SUFFIX: 
POSITION-CODE: 321 
PRINCIPAL?: Yes 
M-ADDR1: 811/3 Bloemendhal Road 
M-ADDR2: 
M-ADDR3: 
M-CITY: Colombo 15 
M-STATE: 
M-CNTRY: Sri Lanka 
M-ZONE: 
M-ZIP: 
M-PHONE: (94-11) 535-1624 
M-FAX: (94-11) 461-8866 
M-EMAIL: manouri@stmail.lk 
M-CNTRY-ID: CE 
M-ADDRTYPE: B 
GENDER: M 
DOB: 05/16/1968 
MAR-STAT: M 
BIRTH-CITY: Colombo 
BIRTH-CNTRY: Sri Lanka 
CITIZ-CNTRY: Sri Lanka 
RES-CNTRY: Sri Lanka 
START MEMO POSITION: 
Attorney-at-Law, Supreme Court of Sri Lanka, 1997- to date 
END MEMO POSITION: 
START MEMO OTHER-POSITIONS: 
Lecturer, Centre for Professional Studies, 1990- to date 
END MEMO OTHER-POSITIONS: 
START MEMO PREV-POSITIONS: 
1992-97 - State Council, Attorney General's Department 
END MEMO PREV-POSITIONS: 
START MEMO US-TRAVEL: 
None 
END MEMO US-TRAVEL: 
START MEMO OTHER-TRAVEL: 
Australia - 2001 - Holiday 
New Zealand and Hong Kong - 2002 - Holiday 
 
END MEMO OTHER-TRAVEL: 
START MEMO EDUCATION: 
LL.B. , Open University of Sri Lanka, 1998 
Attorney-at-Law, Sri Lanka Law College, 1992 
END MEMO EDUCATION: 
START MEMO MEMBERSHIPS: 
Member, Bar Association of Sri Lanka 
END MEMO MEMBERSHIPS: 
START MEMO PUBLICATIONS: 
 
END MEMO PUBLICATIONS: 
START MEMO SPEC-CONSID: 
 
END MEMO SPEC-CONSID: 
FIRST-LANG: Sinhala 
ENGL-READ: 4 
ENGL-SPEAK: 4 
ENGL-COMP: 4 
START MEMO NOM-POST-OBJ: 
This nomination is in support of MPP goal "Supporting Human 
Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law". 
END MEMO NOM-POST-OBJ: 
START MEMO NOM-POST-RCMD: 
 
END MEMO NOM-POST-RCMD: 
START MEMO VIS-OBJ: 
 
END MEMO VIS-OBJ: 
START MEMO VIS-REC: 
 
END MEMO VIS-REC: 
NOMINATING-OFFICER: Joseph Novak 
START MEMO NOMINATING-JUSTIFICATION: 
Mr. Pieris, an attorney appearing for the Sri Lanka's 
Supreme Court and a prominent member of the legal 
community, has also been lecturing in the field of law and 
jurisprudence for over a decade.  Given his professional 
standing as well as his position as an educator, Pieris 
would be able to use the lessons from the program on the 
"U.S. Judicial System" both to bring perspective to high 
level legal proceedings as well as to influence a broad 
audience of young Sri Lankan legal professionals. 
This nomination has "full Country Team approval." 
 
END MEMO NOMINATING-JUSTIFICATION: 
NOM-OFF: Political 
SPEAKER?: No 
NOTIFY-EMB: Yes 
MEDIA?: No 
HOME-STAY: Yes 
HOME-HOSP?: Yes 
E-I-TYPE: 
NOMINEE-ID: 161 
PERSON-ID: 168 
BIRTH-CNTRY-ID: CE 
CITIZ-CNTRY-ID: CE 
RES-CNTRY-ID: CE 
FIRST-LANG-ID: SI 
E-I-TYPE-ID: 
NOM-POST-ID: 2929 
NOM-FUNDING-CNTRY-ID: 
NOM-STATUS: N 
DS2019-ACTION: 1 
DS2019-SUBJECT: 22.0299 
SPONS-FUNDS: 0 
SPONS-AGENCY1: DOS 
USGOVT-AGENCY1: DOS 
US-AGENCY-AMT1: 8000 
USGOVT-AGENCY2: 
US-AGENCY-AMT2: 0 
INTL-ORG1: 
INTL-ORG-AMOUNT1: 0 
INTL-ORG2: 
INTL-ORG-AMOUNT2: 0 
VIS-GOVT-AMT: 0 
COMMISSION: 0 
OTHER-AMOUNT: 0 
VIS-AMOUNT: 0 
VIS-CAT: 5 
END BIO: 
END NOMINATION: 
END FIXED-FORMAT TEXT: 
 
3. Please advise acceptance of this nomination. 
Lunstead