Sri Lanka”s ex-army chief returns to court martial

COLOMBO: The court martial of Sri Lanka”s former army chief resumed Tuesday, two days before parliamentary elections at which he is a candidate, a military official said.

Sarath Fonseka, who has been in detention since February 8, appeared at the hearing in the tightly-guarded naval headquarters in Colombo.

“General Fonseka is at the hearing which re-opened this morning into allegations that he was involved in politics while in uniform,” the official said, without giving further details. Fonseka will face a second set of charges later Tuesday on alleged corrupt military procurements.

The general denies all charges and says they are part of a political vendetta against him. Fonseka, 59, who led the military to victory over the Tamil Tiger rebels last year, fell out with President Mahinda Rajapakse and unsuccessfully tried to unseat him in elections in January.

Sarah Palin Captured With ‘Crib Notes’

Sarah Palin Captured With ‘Crib Notes’, Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin appeared before the National Tea Party Movement Convention in Nashville.
To effectively deliver the oratory, Former Governor Palin used what were once called ‘crib notes’ scribbled in the palm of her left hand. Thus, Sarah Palin used her hand as part of the job she was hired to do for the Tea Party Movement. The finding, noted in several blogs, took the Internet by storm on Monday. Sarah Palin wrote the words “Energy”, “Tax” and “Lift American Spirits” in that order in her left hand’s palm. It was Palin’s palm-up pose that allowed the photo capture of what she scribbled. All this from a person, Sarah Palin, who criticized President Obama for using a teleprompter, yet did so in the same Tea Party speech where she was using her left hand’s crib notes, and also used one at the Republican National Convention.

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Sarah Palin Captured With ‘Crib Notes’ was first posted on February 9, 2010 at 2:56 pm.

Ex-Army Chief to Face Sri Lanka Court Martial

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s former army chief and defeated presidential candidate Sarath Fonseka will face a court martial for ‘military offences’, an official said on Tuesday.

Fonseka, who was arrested by military police at his campaign office on Monday night, has been moved to an undisclosed military establishment ahead of court martial proceedings, the military official said.

“He will face a court martial even though he is not a serving officer,” said the official, who declined to be named. “The military law applies up to six months from the date of retirement of any officer.”

Fonseka, who lost to President Mahinda Rajapakse in the January 26 election, was arrested hours after he vowed to give evidence at any international probe into alleged war crimes committed by troops in the final stages of fighting against Tamil Tiger rebels last year.

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Ex-Army Chief to Face Sri Lanka Court Martial was first posted on February 9, 2010 at 3:50 pm.

United Nations ask Sri Lanka to answer new war crime charges

The United Nations has asked Sri Lanka to explain allegations by a former army general that surrendering Tamil rebel leaders were killed in cold blood in mid-May, the government said on Monday.

The presidency in Colombo said the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Philip Alston, sought explanations on what had happened to three rebel leaders and their families who wanted to surrender.

“The government is making a careful study of the UN Rapporteur?s letter, prior to a formal response, and any action that may be necessary,” the president’s office said in a statement.

Two weeks ago, former army chief Sarath Fonseka said that he had been informed by a state media reporter that the defence minister, who is also the president’s brother, had wanted all surrendering rebels wiped out.

Sri Lanka recently staved off attempts by Western nations to launch a UN war crimes probe into the country’s 37-year ethnic conflict that ended in May when the leaders of the Tamil Tiger rebels were killed in a major offensive.

A Russian and Chinese veto at the UN torpedoed attempts to launch an investigation, but the new allegations could strengthen the case to bring Colombo before a tribunal.

The UN estimates that up to 7,000 civilians died in the final stages of the war. This figure is disputed by the government.

Alston said in his letter, a copy of which was released by the president’s office, that he wanted clarifications to keep the UN Human Rights Council informed.

The government has accused Fonseka, who was in charge of the army during the final stages of the war, of “betraying” the country and making the statement for political reasons ahead of presidential elections on January 26.

Fonseka, 59, is challenging his former boss, President Mahinda Rajapakse, 64, who is seeking re-election. Fonseka has agreed to face any investigation, while Rajapakse insists he will not allow any war crimes probe.

On May 19, Sri Lankan authorities showed on television the body of Tiger supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran, a day after claiming that he was killed in a gunbattle along with a dozen other senior military cadres.

Three Tiger political wing leaders who were arranging his surrender were shot dead on May 17. The government at the time said they may have been killed by the guerrillas themselves.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s chief of staff, Vijay Nambiar, had been in telephone contact with a number of guerrillas to arrange their surrender, according to diplomats.

The government had assured Nambiar that surrendering rebels would be safe.

Fonseka said he had learnt only after the war that senior Tiger rebels had used foreign mediators to organise a plan in which they would carry white flags and give themselves up.

The UN estimates that up to 100,000 people were killed in the civil war which began in 1972 when the Tamil Tigers first took up arms.

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United Nations ask Sri Lanka to answer new war crime charges was first posted on December 21, 2009 at 7:59 pm.

Sri Lanka Opposition Chief Backs Former Army Chief

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s top opposition leader threw his support Thursday behind the former army commander, who is expected to run against President Mahinda Rajapaksa in a hard fought election between two war heroes.

Gen. Sarath Fonseka has not yet officially declared his candidacy for the vote expected in January, but opposition parties — with little hope of defeating Rajapaksa on their own — have been lining up to support him.

Ranil Wickremesinghe, head of the United National Party, told reporters his party would back Fonseka. On Tuesday, the People’s Liberation Front — a Marxist opposition party — said Fonseka had agreed to run as head of an opposition coalition.

Both parties said Fonseka agreed to abolish the powerful executive presidency and return power to parliament, bring in laws to curb corruption and restore democracy.

Fonseka is expected to announce his candidacy at a press conference this weekend.

Rajapaksa, who still has two years left in his six-year term, called for early elections to take advantage of his popularity after defeating the Tamil Tiger rebels and ending the country’s 25-year civil war in May.

Rajapaksa could face a strong challenge from Fonseka, who led the army to victory over the rebels in May.

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Sri Lanka Opposition Chief Backs Former Army Chief was first posted on November 26, 2009 at 8:36 pm.