Sri Lankan ex-army chief’s wife rules out appeal for pardon

COLOMBO - The wife of the former army chief in Sri Lanka imprisoned for 30 months for violating tender procedures ruled out Friday an appeal by the family to President Mahinda Rajapaksa for a pardon.

Former army chief Sarath Fonseka started his sentence after being transferred to a high-security jail in Welikada in Colombo city late Thursday after Rajapaksa endorsed the verdict handed down by a court martial.

“We have no plans to appeal to the president for a pardon. He has not committed an offence,” Anoma Fonseka said.

Anoma Fonseka, along with some 200 supporters of the Democratic National Alliance, a political party led by Sarath Fonseka, was present Thursday outside the prison headquarters to witness her husband being transferred.

He had been in military custody since Feb 8 and was held at Navy headquarters.

Anoma Fonseka’s reaction came as a local newspaper quoted Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa that the president was ready to re-evaluate the verdict on the basis of a plea from Fonseka.

“Fonseka’s conviction wasn’t a political issue and it couldn’t be resolved by protests or intervention by third parties,” the defence secretary, who is the president’s brother, was quoted as saying in the Island newspaper.

But Fonseka’s wife said the decision to sentence her husband was politically motivated and done according to the wishes of the president.

Fonseka, who spearheaded the military campaign against Tamil rebels of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, later entered politics after a fall-out with Rajapaksa.

The former general, who ran against Rajapaksa at the presidential elections in January and later went on to contest parliamentary elections in April, claimed that the courts martial were aimed at keeping him out of politics.

Fonseka was elected as a member of parliament, but the government said he would lose his seat because of the sentence.

However, Fonseka’s party spokesman Vijitha Herath said they would be contesting the matter in the courts in addition to appealing against the 30-month sentence.

The ex-army chief also faces charges in the civilian courts including conspiracy against the government and disclosing military secrets.

An earlier court martial convicted him of involvement in politics while serving as commander and dishonourably discharged him in August. He was stripped of his medals and the rank of general.

The second court martial tried him on charges of approving tenders in favour of company owned by his son-in-law. Fonseka had awarded three tenders to the company to supply items to the army.

Fonseka’s lawyers’ argument that the company was entitled to tender to supply the army, was not accepted by the court martial.