Sri Lanka's jailed ex-army boss loses parliament seat

By Ranga Sirilal | Reuters
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Sri Lanka's parliament on Thursday revoked the parliamentary seat of former General Sarath Fonseka, who ran unsuccessfully against President Mahinda Rajapaksa and was jailed after being found guilty of misappropriating funds.

Fonseka last week was sentenced to 30 months' hard labour by a second court-martial, after a first ruled he be stripped of his rank and pension for conducting politics in uniform.

It marks yet another low moment for the career soldier, who was glorified alongside the president after leading the army to victory over the Tamil Tiger separatists, ending 25 years of civil war, in May 2009.

Fonseka later fell out with Rajapaksa, blaming the president for falsely accusing him of plotting a coup, and he soon quit the army to run against his former commander-in-chief.

"Parliamentarian Sarath Fonseka's seat fell vacant under... the constitution and we requested the elections commissioner to fill the vacancy," Dhammika Dassanayake, parliament's acting-secretary general, told reporters.

Fonseka's party, the Democratic National Alliance (DNA), vowed to challenge the move, arguing that the constitutional provision for removing a member of parliament convicted of a civilian criminal offence does not apply to a military verdict.

"We will take legal action against this," said Vijiith Herath, a legislator and DNA spokesman.

The general still faces two civilian criminal cases.

Fonseka won his parliamentary seat after losing to the veteran politician Rajapaksa in the January presidential poll.

© Reuters