President Mahinda Rajapaksa signed the papers for the release of former Army General on May 18 evening
A day after Sri Lankan Foreign Minister G.L. Peiris met U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and officials in Washington DC, Sri Lanka announced that President Mahinda Rajapaksa signed the release papers of the jailed former Army General, Sarath Fonseka.
“President Mahinda Rajapaksa signed the papers on the 18th evening and handed over the papers to Chief of Staff Gamini Senerath before leaving for Qatar to enable the release of Mr. Sarath Fonseka. Papers will be sent to the Ministry of Justice on Monday,” Bandula Jayasekara, Presidential Spokesman, said early on Sunday, putting to rest speculation on the processes that follow the Sri Lankan government decision to release the former Army Commander.
Sri Lanka's executive President has vast powers under the repeatedly-amended Constitution. Part of an Article relates to pardoning convicted criminals. Under Article 34 (1), the “President may, in the case of any offender, convicted of any offence in any court within the Republic of Sri Lanka (a) grant pardon, either free of subject to lawful conditions; (b) grant any respite, either indefinite for such period as the President may think fit, of the execution of any sentence passed on such offender; (c) substitute a less severe form of punishment for any punishment imposed on such offender; or (d) remit whole or any part of any punishment imposed or of any penalty or forfeiture otherwise due to the Republic on account of such offence.”
Speculation on his release date began doing the rounds after The Hindu broke the story on his release, after speaking to the President on the sidelines of a function held here last week to launch a book, Gota’s War.
Mr. Jayasekara stated there was no international pressure to release the General, who led Sri Lanka to the historic war victory over the Tamil Tigers in May 2009. But in the meeting between Prof. Peiris and Mike Posner, Assistant Secretary of State, Democracy, Human Rights and Labour, in Washington DC, specific human rights abuse allegations had come up. The U.S. held that Gen. Fonseka was a political prisoner and demanded his release.
Depending on the length the processing of papers take, Mr. Fonseka, who is now in a hospital where he was shifted from a prison on April 25, is expected to walk free either on Monday evening or Tuesday.
The first formality ahead of the release was a Cabinet approval. This came last Thursday. The next day, the Colombo High Court granted bail to Mr. Fonseka in one case, relating to harbouring Army deserters.
Mr. Sarath Fonseka, who was appointed Army Commander in 2005 by Mr..Rajapakasa, oversaw the defeat of the LTTE in May 2009. He was ‘kicked upstairs' and made Chief of Defence Staff in July 2009. In November the same year, Mr. Fonseka resigned the position and decided to contest the polls, a decision that put him in direct confrontation with the more political savvy Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa. Even when most of the diplomatic corps and foreign observers in Colombo predicted a Fonseka victory in the Presidential polls, he trailed Rajapaksa by 17 points in the election.
Barely a fortnight after the defeat, he was arrested on February 8, 2010 by military police and subjected to a court martial on “military offences.”
The first court martial, which began in March 2010, ordered that he be discharged dishonourably in May 2010. The second court martial on Hi-Corp deal resulted in a three-year sentence in September 2010. Though he won from Colombo district in April 2010 general elections, he was unseated from Parliament in October the same year. In all, has served more than 2 years in prison and has also been convicted for another 3 years last November. He has appealed against convictions in the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court.
Fonseka leads the Democratic National Alliance, which has seven seats in the 225 member House. The next Presidential elections are due in 2016. Fonseka has a variety of health concerns, including respiratory problems, and others, arising from an aborted suicide bomb attack on him.
Keywords: Sarath Fonseka release, Eelam War IV
First we mustn't forget if Rajapakse hadn't win the Presidency in
2005 and extended Fonseka’s retirement, on urging by Gotabhaya his
brother, Sarath Fonseka would have been another retired Major
General in December 2005. It is that act that paved the way for him
to be a 'war hero' and a four star general. True, the way SF was
sidelined after winning the war is not fair as well.
Let bad feelings between Rajapakses and Fonsekas be bygones now for
no point seeking who is wrong or who is right now. We cannot let F,
UK the US, the backers of LTTE rump and the pseudo Sri Lankan
national parties set enmity between these two 'war heros' to go on
and on.
So, as for me, I am extremely happy that Fonsekas and Rajapakses
have come to some understanding, and SF is released at long last.
This is good, a sign of unity between the government and SF.
There is more to it than meets the eye. No one in the wide world is going to believe the official version that Gen Sarath Fonseka was guilty of that of which he was accused and convicted. Clearly, this is a story of vendetta for other reasons. Some day, truth will out.
Sarth Fonseka's release will certainly create more troubles for the Srilankan opposition already in disarray.
The International Community must press for an International Mechanism and seek justice to the fallen Tamil victims of Sri Lanka armed forces, of which Gen. Sarath Fonseka was the Commander. President Rajapakse, as the Commander in Chief, and his brother Gothapaya Rajapakse (Defence Secretary)must also clear their names through the same legal process. The world Tamils demands this on behalf of the island Tamils.
From my layman's perspective : General Fonseka was the national hero of Sri Lanka for winning the war against the dreadful terrorists but his political naivete landed him in jail.
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