Papua New Guinea's parliament has voted to effectively suspend two of the nation's top judges after Chief Justice Sir Salamo Injia refused to remove himself from overseeing hearings into the government's legitimacy.
The move comes less than a week after Prime Minister Peter O'Neill indicated he would seek wider consultation before implementing the controversial enabling laws that allow the suspensions.
The motion to suspend Sir Salamo and Justice Nicholas Kirriwom was carried on voices at the conclusion of Wednesday's parliamentary session.
In court earlier, Sir Salamo declined to recuse himself from the constitutional hearings.
Government lawyers had argued he would indirectly benefit from finding against the government because they had repeatedly tried to suspend him.
The Supreme Court veteran was arrested last month for allegedly trying to pervert the course of a police investigation into his handling of court finances.
Soon after his arrest, the court issued a permanent stay of proceedings, calling the police investigation an abuse of process.
Government lawyers earlier this week applied for Justice Kirriwom to stand aside after a memo bearing his signature and calling on judges to band together to fight government attacks against the judiciary was leaked online.
Justice Korriwom ruled against an application for him to stand down on Tuesday.