A Sri Lankan military court convicted former army commander General Sarath Fonseka, who ran for president on the opposition ticket, of fraud. He could be sentenced to jail time.
Fonseka has already been dishonorably discharged following an earlier court-martial conviction. He has described the prosecutions as a political vendetta and said they were launched to persecute him for daring to challenge Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa in the presidential election earlier this year.
Critics say the Sri Lankan government is systematically persecuting its rivals as it consolidates power following victory of ethnic Tamil rebels last year.
Sri Lankan government spokesman Lakshman Hulugalla said the court-martial that heard the case against Fonseka has sent its recommendation to Rajapaksa and the sentence will be announced after his approval.
Fonseka is accused of bypassing military procedures in purchasing equipment and involving his son-in-law in the dealings.
The verdict on Friday came weeks after Fonseka was stripped of his rank, pension, medals and other military honors after another court-martial convicted him of involvement in politics while in service.
Once allies, Rajapaksa and Fonseka were both considered heroes by the Sinhalese majority for crushing the Tamil rebels last year, ending a quarter-century civil war that killed 80,000 to 100,000 people.
However, they had a falling out months after the war ended and the general quit the army after accusing Rajapaksa of sidelining him, suspecting a military coup. Their relationship further deteriorated after Fonseka challenged Rajapaksa in the presidential election.
Fonseka lost the election to Rajapaksa in January and was arrested weeks later. He was accused of planning his political career while still in uniform and breaching regulations for purchasing military hardware. Fonseka has been detained by the military since then.
While in detention, Fonseka contested parliamentary elections in April with the opposition Democratic National Alliance and won a seat, while Rajapaksa’s party won a majority.
Last week, Fonseka met reporters in the Sri Lankan Parliament and said the government is determined to send him to jail and that he won’t expect justice from them.
ANGER: A video shared online showed residents in a neighborhood confronting the national security minister, attempting to drag her toward floodwaters Argentina’s port city of Bahia Blanca has been “destroyed” after being pummeled by a year’s worth of rain in a matter of hours, killing 13 and driving hundreds from their homes, authorities said on Saturday. Two young girls — reportedly aged four and one — were missing after possibly being swept away by floodwaters in the wake of Friday’s storm. The deluge left hospital rooms underwater, turned neighborhoods into islands and cut electricity to swaths of the city. Argentine Minister of National Security Patricia Bullrich said Bahia Blanca was “destroyed.” The death toll rose to 13 on Saturday, up from 10 on Friday, authorities
RARE EVENT: While some cultures have a negative view of eclipses, others see them as a chance to show how people can work together, a scientist said Stargazers across a swathe of the world marveled at a dramatic red “Blood Moon” during a rare total lunar eclipse in the early hours of yesterday morning. The celestial spectacle was visible in the Americas and Pacific and Atlantic oceans, as well as in the westernmost parts of Europe and Africa. The phenomenon happens when the sun, Earth and moon line up, causing our planet to cast a giant shadow across its satellite. But as the Earth’s shadow crept across the moon, it did not entirely blot out its white glow — instead the moon glowed a reddish color. This is because the
DEBT BREAK: Friedrich Merz has vowed to do ‘whatever it takes’ to free up more money for defense and infrastructure at a time of growing geopolitical uncertainty Germany’s likely next leader Friedrich Merz was set yesterday to defend his unprecedented plans to massively ramp up defense and infrastructure spending in the Bundestag as lawmakers begin debating the proposals. Merz unveiled the plans last week, vowing his center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU)/Christian Social Union (CSU) bloc and the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) — in talks to form a coalition after last month’s elections — would quickly push them through before the end of the current legislature. Fraying Europe-US ties under US President Donald Trump have fueled calls for Germany, long dependent on the US security umbrella, to quickly
Local officials from Russia’s ruling party have caused controversy by presenting mothers of soldiers killed in Ukraine with gifts of meat grinders, an appliance widely used to describe Russia’s brutal tactics on the front line. The United Russia party in the northern Murmansk region posted photographs on social media showing officials smiling as they visited bereaved mothers with gifts of flowers and boxed meat grinders for International Women’s Day on Saturday, which is widely celebrated in Russia. The post included a message thanking the “dear moms” for their “strength of spirit and the love you put into bringing up your sons.” It
RSS