Sri Lanka ex-army chief vows to fight from jail

Agence France-Presse | Daily Times
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Sri Lanka’s jailed ex-military chief and opposition leader Sarath Fonseka vowed to fight for democracy as he was escorted out of prison Monday to attend another court case against him.

Fonseka, 59, told supporters outside the Colombo High Court that he was prepared to sacrifice his life and will not give up his struggle “for democracy”. “I am ready to sacrifice my life,” he said outside a packed court house. “I will not give up this struggle.” It was his first outing since he began his 30-month jail term Thursday after a court martial conviction.

The former four-star general began his prison time on Thursday night after President Mahinda Rajapakse confirmed the court martial conviction handed down on September 17 for making improper military procurements. Fonseka fell out with Rajapakse soon after crushing Tamil Tiger rebels in May last year and ending the island’s drawn out Tamil separatist war.

Fonseka unsuccessfully tried to unseat Rajapakse at a presidential election in January, but managed to win a parliamentary seat which is in doubt since his jailing on Thursday. Fonseka leads the opposition Democratic National Alliance, which accuses the government of a political vendetta against the former army chief.

The only four-star general to have been in active service in Sri Lanka’s army is sleeping on the cement floor of a cell at the maximum security Welikada prison and eats off a metal plate after lining up for food, his wife said. Fonseka was hailed as a hero after soldiers under his command crushed the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) last year. Tamil separatist leaders were killed in a no-holds-barred offensive led by Fonseka.

The Tigers’ defeat ended nearly 40 years of separatist conflict in Sri Lanka, but rights groups led by Amnesty International and the Human Rights Watch say thousands of civilians were also killed in the final onslaught. Fonseka’s lawyers said he faces a charge of “inciting people to violence” by commenting to a newspaper that surrendering rebel leaders were executed during the final days of the separatist war. agencies

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