Fonseka instructs wife not to appeal for pardon

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 October 2010, 04:59 GMT]
Sarath Fonseka, former Commander of the Sri Lanka Army, has instructed his wife Anoma and his children not to appeal for pardon on behalf of him as he had done nothing wrong, media reports in Colombo said. He had issued this instruction to Anoma Fonseka when she visited him in Welikada prison Friday where her husband is serving a rigorous imprisonment. Sarath Fonseka had told his wife that there was no necessity to apologize on his behalf as he had done nothing wrong, the report said.
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JVP gets Fonseka's parliamentary seat

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 October 2010, 17:21 GMT]
Lakshman Nipunaarachchi of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) is to fill the vacant parliamentary seat created with the imprisonment of the Sarath Foneska. The JVP is the main constituent of the Democratic National Alliance led by Sarath Fonseka, retired Commander of the Sri Lanka who unsuccessfully contested the presidential election on January 26.
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Fonseka loses parliamentary seat

[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 October 2010, 12:34 GMT]
Democratic National Alliance (DNA) Leader, parliamentarian and former Sri Lanka Army commander Sarath Fonseka has lost his seat in the Sri Lankan Parliament on Thursday, according to the Parliamentary Secretary General Dhammika Dissanayake, sources in Colombo said. Sarath Fonseka, who challenged Mahinda Rajapaksa in the presidential election, was sentenced for 30 months rigorous imprisonment last week after he was found guilty at the first Military Court Martial.
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Fonseka needs SL Speaker’s permission to attend parliament

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 October 2010, 16:44 GMT]
“Sarath Fonseka can be allowed to attend Parliament if the Speaker or Parliamentary Affairs Secretary gives us orders in writing,” the Commissioner General of Prisons Major General (retired) V. R. de Silva said Monday. Sarath Fonseka, former commander of the Sri Lanka Army currently held in Welikada prison serving 30 month rigorous imprisonment will not be allowed to attend Sri Lanka parliament which is scheduled to meet Thursday until a written directive from the Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa is received by prison authorities, according to V. R. de Silva.
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Wickremesinghe demands immediate release of Fonseka

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 October 2010, 02:56 GMT]
Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe has demanded Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapaksa to immediately pardon and release former Army Commander Sarath Fonseka, who led the battle against the Liberation Tigers and ended the war May last year, the Sinhala daily Lankadeepa said Tuesday.
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Sunday Leader Editor first witness in ‘white flag’ case

[TamilNet, Monday, 04 October 2010, 15:22 GMT]
Ms. Fredica Janz, Editor of the Sunday Leader, is listed as the first witness in the case against Sarath Fonseka, former Commander of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA), related to the ‘White Flag’ issue. Fonseka, in an interview to the Sunday Leader, had alleged that Sri Lanka Defense Secretary Gothabaya Rajapakse had ordered not to spare any Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) cadres surrendering with white flags but to shoot all of them dead. The case is scheduled to be taken up for inquiry before a three-member bench of the Colombo High Court presided by Deepali Wijesundera Monday.
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Former SLA commander Fonseka in Welikada Prison

[TamilNet, Friday, 01 October 2010, 09:03 GMT]
Sarath Fonseka, former Commander of the Sri Lanka Army, was transferred to Welikada Prison Thursday around 10:30 p.m to serve his 30 months’ rigorous imprisonment following the ratification of the recommendation of the Second Court Martial. Sri Lanka President’s ratification endorsed that Fonseka should serve thirty months in prison and not 36 months as recommended by the Second Court Martial for violating tender procedures in purchasing arms to the Sri Lanka Army.
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Mahinda Rajapakse ratifies Second Court Martial findings against Fonseka

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 September 2010, 16:10 GMT]
Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapakse as the Commander-in-Chief ratified the Second Court Martial recommendation against Sarath Fonseka Thursday with an endorsement that he should serve only thirty months in prison instead of thirty-six months. The Second Court Martial had recommended that Fonseka should serve thirty-six months in prison on being found guilty for irregularities violating tender procedures in purchasing arms to Sri Lanka Army. Meanwhile, military spokesman Major General Ubaya Medawala said that Sarath Fonseka would be serving a rigorous imprisonment.
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Sarath Fonseka appears in court on ‘white flag issue’

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 28 September 2010, 20:36 GMT]
The trial-at-bar in Colombo High Court Tuesday re-fixed the inquiry for October 4 and 5 in the case against former Commander of the Sri Lanka Army Sarath Fonseka. Fonseka is charged for disclosing military secrets that the Defense Secretary Gotabaya Rajapakse had issued orders not to spare any of the LTTE cadres surrendering with white flags in the final battle and that the surendees should be shot dead.
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Court dismisses petition against Fonseka's election to parliament

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 28 September 2010, 20:30 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s Court of Appeal Tuesday rejected a petition challenging the election of Sarath Fonseka, former Commander of the Sri Lanka Army to Sri Lanka parliament from the Colombo district in the last general election held on April 8. The petition came up for inquiry before a three member bench. The petitioner Anandan Mohandas of Haputale sought the Court of Appeal to declare the election of Fonseka as null and void as he was not a registered voter in Sri Lanka.
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High Court begins inquiry against Fonseka on ‘white flag issue’

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 28 September 2010, 04:31 GMT]
The Trial-at-Bar inquiry in the Colombo High Court against Sarath Fonseka, former Commander of the Sri Lanka Army, began Monday. But the court comprising Deepali Wijesundera, H. N.P. B. Warawewa and Zurfick Raseen re-fixed the inquiry for Tuesday on receipt of a report that Fonseka was indisposed. Army Legal Officer Major Karunaratne further informed court that Fonseka had fallen ill Monday morning and was later examined by SL Navy doctors.
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Buddhist prelates to talk to Mahinda Rajapakse on Fonseka release

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 September 2010, 09:10 GMT]
Mahanayake Theras of two Chapters Malwatte and Asgiriya are reported to have assured Anoma Fonseka, wife of the detained former commander of the Sri Lanka Army that they would take up the issue of release of her husband with Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapakse when he returns from New York on Monday. Both Mahanayake Theras are said to have given the assurance to Anoma Fonseka when she met them and pleaded for the release of her husband, Sunday in Kandy.
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UNP to campaign abroad for Fonseka's release

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 September 2010, 11:22 GMT]
Sri Lanka's United National party (UNP) is to commence a large scale international protest campaign against the recent court martial decision which has ordered for the imprisonment of former army Commander Maj. Gen. (Retd.) Sarath Fonseka for three years over alleged arm dealings, during his time as commander.
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LTTE's Elilan surrendered to SLA on 18 May, wife tells BBC

[TamilNet, Sunday, 19 September 2010, 16:21 GMT]
Ananthi Sasitharan, wife of Elilan, former Trincomalee political head of the LTTE, told BBC Tamil service that she and her three daughters witnessed her husband and hundreds of other LTTE members surrendering to the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers on 18th May 2009, after the war has come to an end. "I have been trying to trace my husband and has not been successful to locate his whereabouts. I have no doubt that Sri Lanka's president knows where my husband and others who surrendered are being held," she told the BBC.
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Court Martial sentences Fonseka three years in prison

[TamilNet, Saturday, 18 September 2010, 08:02 GMT]
The second court marital Friday sentenced Sarath Fonseka, to a prison term not exceeding three years, on being found guilty for violating tender procedure in purchasing arms while being the Commander of Sri Lanka Army. The second court martial further said the sentence is to be served or not is to be decided by the Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
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Supreme Court begins inquiry into Presidential election petition filed

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 September 2010, 19:30 GMT]
Sarath Fonseka, former Commander of the Sri Lanka Army Tuesday appeared first time in the Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court on the second day of inquiry into the presidential election petition filed by him. Fonseka has challenged the election of incumbent President Mahinda Rajapakse in the presidential election held in January this year. The Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) produced Sarath Fonseka, the petitioner in the case in the court Tuesday on the direction made by the five-member bench of the Supreme Court on Monday. Fonseka is being detained in the Sri Lanka Navy headquarters since he lost in the presidential election to Rajapakse.
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Fonseka refuses to seek pardon from Rajapaksa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 08 September 2010, 15:10 GMT]
Former Commander of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Sarath Fonseka said that he had been approached by intermediaries of Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapaksa urging him to ask the President for a pardon. “I told them that I will never do that,” Sarath Fonseka said at a media briefing held in the parliamentary complex Wednesday. Sarath Fonseka, leader of the Democratic National Alliance (DNA) and other MPs of the DNA participated in the media briefing.
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'India should stop calling Eezham Tamils a minority'

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 07 September 2010, 00:30 GMT]
Eezham Tamils are a nation having historical sovereignty and territory in the island called Sri Lanka. Members of the Indian Establishment should stop humiliating them any further by calling them as ‘minority’. Tamil brethren of Tamil Nadu should be sensitive enough and stop such fundamentally faulty approaches and psyop war of the New Delhi-Chennai-Colombo axis on the historical nation of Eezham Tamils in the island. Edification of Chennai and New Delhi is basic to make the world see the crisis in realistic perspectives. Eezham Tamils, in their casual and social interaction should consciously stop using the recently invented name 'Sri' Lanka of genocidal connotations, when an official Tamil name Ilangkai and another ancient Tamil name Eezham are available to refer to the island, writes TamilNet political commentator in Colombo.
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Sri Lanka stifles attempts to investigate war atrocities - paper

[TamilNet, Sunday, 05 September 2010, 19:06 GMT]
Comparing how the United States accounted any Vietnamese killed as Viet Cong, Peter Bouckert, in the British Daily Guardian said Sunday that "Sri Lanka's defence secretary, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, has taken such creative accounting to new heights. The United Nations reported that at least 7,000 civilians were killed and tens of thousands wounded during the final months of the brutal conflict with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, which ended in May 2009. But Gotabhaya has repeatedly cast aspersions on the idea that there were any civilian casualties."
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Police arrest 2 JVP members in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 September 2010, 16:12 GMT]
Sri Lanka police in Jaffna arrested two members of Janatha Vimukthi Party (JVP) while they were putting up posters against the proposed 18th Constitutional Amendment at Hospital Road junction in Jaffna Saturday early morning, sources in Jaffna said. One of the men arrested is Veeraraj Lalithakumar who had contested as the chief candidate of Democratic National Party of Sarath Fonseka in Jaffna district in the last parliamentary election and lost. The police had removed all the posters pasted.
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