JURIST - Paper Chase: Myanmar constitutional court justices resign following impeachment vote

[JURIST] All nine justices of Myanmar's Constitutional Court resigned Thursday after Parliament voted for impeachment. President Thein Sein [BBC profile] has reportedly accepted the resignations [BBC report] of all nine justices. The parliament was created as part of Myanmar's constitutional reforms. Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] and the Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDP) party, which is currently in power and closely aligned with the military, supported the impeachment of the Constitutional Court justices. Friction between the government and the parliament began this past March, when the Constitutional Court limited the power of parliamentary committees and commissions to bring ministers before parliament for questioning. Over two-thirds of the lower house voted to impeach all nine justices a month after the upper house voted in favor of impeachment.

Political clashes and sectarian violence have been prevalent in Myanmar in recent months. Last month a report released by Physicians for Human Rights claimed that Myanmar's army was still committing human rights abuses [JURIST report] against ethnic minorities in Karen state. In August Thein Sein announced [JURIST report] the creation of a 27-member commission tasked with investigating the cause of the sectarian violence between Rohingya Muslims and Rakhine Buddhists. In June Suu Kyi urged [JURIST report] the international community to support Myanmar in its attempt to build a stronger democracy and uphold the rule of law.