Court martial indicting Fonseka valid under constitution: SL Supreme Court

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 25 January 2011, 14:00 GMT]
Sarath Fonseka, the former Sri Lanka Army commander, who unsuccessfully challenged SL president Mahinda Rajapaksa, and was later imprisoned and court-martialed, lost his appeal to retain his parliamentary seat Tuesday as Sri Lankan Supreme Court ruled that the court-martial investigations were not in violation to the SL Constitution. Mr. Fonseka also lost his civic rights, including the right to vote, for six years in his country. The determination of the Supreme Court was disclosed Tuesday afternoon by the Court of Appeal headed by Justice Ranjith de Silva.

The five member Supreme Court judge chaired by the Chief Justice Asoka de Silva bench had sent its determination on the constitutionality of the court martial two weeks back to the Court of Appeal on a request made by the latter for an interpretation whether the court martial was valid under SL constitution.

The SL Chief Justice Asoka de Silva and Justice Salim Marshuk had sent two separate verdicts to the Appeal Court. But, their verdicts were unanimous in that the court martial was an accepted court under section 89 of the SL constitution.