Lt Gen Sarath Fonseka is no ordinary general. He is the army commander in the Sri Lankan army and the man leading the military offensive in north Sri Lanka, which has virtually decimated Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, the world's most-dreaded guerrilla force today.
The Sri Lankan government hit back at defeated opposition candidate General Sarath Fonseka on Thursday alleging that he had attempted to "assassinate" President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his family.
'Military police personnel who went to take Fonseka into custody on charges of military offences have neither beaten him nor harassed him on that occasion as reported in a section of the media,' the army said in a statement.
Sri Lanka's defeated presidential candidate Sarath Fonseka on Tuesday filed a petition in the supreme court in Colombo challenging the results of the January 26 polls and accused President Mahinda Rajapaksa of rigging the vote.
The Sri Lankan government has slapped a fresh case on detained former army chief Sarath Fonseka for allegedly employing military deserters during the presidential campaign earlier this year, the poll which he contested unsuccessfully against President Mahinda Rajapakse. The attorney general's department filed a fresh case against Fonseka, who is now an opposition lawmaker. He is accused of employing 10 army deserters in the run-up to the January presidential poll.
"The President in his capacity of Commander-in-Chief of the Armed forces has confirmed the findings and the punishment handed down by the first court martial," a military official said.
Sri Lanka on Tuesday, claimed that charges against defeated opposition presidential candidate Sarath Fonseka were "serious enough" to warrant his arrest, raising a question mark on his participation in the forthcoming Parliamentary elections.
Jailed former Sri Lankan army chief Sarath Fonseka was on Friday granted bail by the high court in Colombo in a case for harbouring military deserters, ahead of an imminent presidential pardon for him.
Sri Lankan Chief of Defence Staff Sarath Fonseka, the architect of the military offensive that led to the annihilation of the Liberation Tigers of the Tamil Eelam, quit his post on Thursday and is widely tipped to be the opposition candidate for the presidential elections next year.
General Sarath Fonseka may have violated the official secrets act by accusing Sri Lankan Defence Secretary of ordering the killing of surrendering Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam leaders, a presidential legal adviser has said.
Over 100 personnel from Sri Lanka's elite Special Task Force on Friday raided the office of former army chief and defeated opposition presidential candidate General Sarath Fonseka in Colombo."I don't know what they are looking for. They have also questioned the staff," said a close aide of Fonseka, who was trounced by incumbent Mahinda Rajapaksa in the January 26 presidential polls.
Already stripped off his military rank and medals, former Sri Lankan Army chief Sarath Fonseka, was held guilty of corruption charges by a second court martial, sentenced to a prison term of three years. Fonseka had been charged with favouring an arms firm headed by his son-in-law in defence deals during his time as army chief.
Fonseka was to appear before the two court martials appointed to look into charges against him today, but proceedings of both the panels were postponed.
Sri Lanka's Supreme Court on Friday admitted a petition challenging the arrest of defeated Presidential candidate General Sarath Fonseka and said it will hear the case on February 23. The court admitted a fundamental rights petition filed by Anoma Fonseka, wife of the former army chief, which seeks the right to freedom from torture, arbitrary arrest and detention. In her petition, Anoma had asked the court to rule her husband's arrest as illegal.
The Sri Lankan government on Sunday formally accepted the resignation of General Sarath Fonseka as the chief of defence staff and asked him to retire with immediate effect, rejecting his plea to serve till December 1.
The United States has said the Sri Lankan government must respect the rights of detained former army chief Sarath Fonseka as it underlined the need for 'greater transparency' in the court martial proceedings against the top general. "We haven't seen the specifics of the charges (of court martials), but we have consistently stressed that it is important that General Fonseka's rights be respected and that he be accorded a full due process," said Robert Blake.
General Sarath Fonseka, the defeated candidate in the recent Sri Lanka's presidential election and the country's former Army chief, has been arrested, BBC has reported.
The Sri Lankan army on Wednesday surrounded the Colombo hotel occupied by former army chief General Sarath Fonseka, who is the main opponent of President Mahinda Rajapakse in the presidential poll, counting for which began on Tuesday night.Heavily armed Lankan troops were deployed around the building following information that army deserters were among the 400 people present inside the lake-front luxury hotel in central Colombo.
Questioning the purpose of opposition Presidential candidate Sarath Fonseka's recent India visit, an ally of Sri Lanka's ruling party has asked the former Army General to reveal the details of his tour and whether he reached an agreement with New Delhi.
Sri Lanka's former top general Sarath Fonseka, who resigned last week following a spat with President Mahinda Rajapaksa, has vowed to protect democratic freedom and human rights, amid reports that he may contest the presidential polls as an opposition candidate.
Expressing that he was "very fond" of India, Fonseka, who is being endorsed as the joint opposition candidate to challenge the incumbent Mahinda Rajapaksa, said he was looking forward to support from India during his future plans.
While Sri Lanka's state media chose to ignore Sarath Fonseka's release from prison, pro-government newspapers said on Tuesday that the former army chief had become a "political pawn" in the hands of foreign countries against President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam fighters were dressed in Indian army uniforms during the final battles of the nearly three-decade long civil war, former Sri Lankan army chief Sarath Fonseka has said.
With tears in her eyes, Anoma Fonseka told reporters from her residence, on Tuesday, that she did not know where her husband had been taken on Monday night."He was not involved in politics while he was in the army. He only took to politics only after he retired from the army."
Jailed former Sri Lankan army chief Sarath Fonseka, who led the successful battle against the Tamil Tigers, might be released within the next few days, presidential sources in Colombo said.
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has approved the 30-month jail term given to former army chief Sarath Fonseka by a military court on charges of corruption, top officials said on Thursday.
Sri Lanka's former top General Sarath Fonseka, who quit following a spat with President Mahinda Rajapaksa, on Sunday announced that he would be the joint candidate of opposition parties in the presidential polls slated for January 26 next year.
Former Sri Lankan army chief General Sarath Fonseka has said that he will lead an Arab Spring-style uprising in his country to force the government from office. Fonseka, who was jailed for running as an opposition candidate, launched a bitter attack on President Mahinda Rajapaksa, whom he accused of persecuting his family and terrorising opponents, and pledged a new campaign to topple his government.
Sri Lanka's Supreme Court has asked opposition presidential candidate General Sarath Fonseka to direct his petition alleging bias on part of state-run media organisations to the election commissioner, before approaching the apex court.
Sri Lanka's former Army Chief Sarath Fonseka, who had dared to challenge the country's powerful President in the 2010 electoral battle, will now form his own political party.
Former Sri Lankan army general General Sarath Fonseka, who was arrested on February 8, has said that the charges filed against him were false.
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa appointed a three-member court martial panel to try detained ex-army chief Sarath Fonseka on treason charges and the proceedings against him would be launched on March 16.
In a letter addressed to the President, the 'Mahanayakes' or the Buddhist religious leaders said the monks' grouping 'Maha Sangha' has throughout its long history come forward to help resolve grave national issues, including conflicts among the rulers.
The US on dismissed Sri Lanka's charge that it had provided financial support to Sarath Fonseka during the January 26 presidential polls and asked Colombo to ensure safety of those who had supported the defeated opposition presidential candidate.
Unidentified persons lobbed a bomb targeting the home of opposition presidential candidate Sarath Fonseka's campaign manager in Colombo on Friday, as violence escalated with just four days left for the polls.
Former Sri Lankan army chief Sarath Fonseka, who has been arrested on conspiracy charges, will face a court martial, the military has announced and said that over 25 people have already given evidence against the general.
'They wanted the army commander to arrest me and he told the air force commander to put air force people at their airport take over their airport they sent the army to all broadcasting stations and television stations... they sent all the people on leave; they had only some people and the army these were indications of a military coup,' Fonseka told television channel NewsX.
Sri Lankan Government said it would challenge the candidature of Sarath Fonseka, the main opposition nominee who could not vote as he was not a registered voter.
Proclaiming that prospects of a 'change' in the island nation were in the offing, Sri Lanka's presidential challenger Sarath Fonseka on Thursday vowed to restore democracy and eradicate corruption from the country.
While refusing to hazard a guess on the time frame for liberating the entire northern Sri Lanka from the rebels, Army Chief Sarath Fonseka said he had been given another one year extension beginning January 2009 and the period is enough to completely clear the LTTE held areas.
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