Imprisoned Lanka war hero gets 3-year sentence

Sri Lanka's former army chief was sentenced on Friday to three more years in prison for reportedly implicating the defence secretary in war crimes at the end of the country's civil war.

Two judges of a three-member High Court bench ruled Sarath Fonseka's reported comments to a newspaper in 2009 breached the harsh emergency law in place during and after the 26-year civil war. He claimed at his trial he was misquoted.

Fonseka rejected the verdict as unjust but said he was not surprised because Sri Lankan authorities did not want him active in politics. Attorney Nalin Ladduwahetty said Fonseka would appeal the sentence. The court's third judge ruled to acquit him.

Fonseka led Sri Lanka's army to victory in its 26-year civil war with separatist Tamil Tiger rebels in 2009. He had immense popularity from leading the army that defeated a rebel group that had seemed invincible for decades and challenged one-time ally
President Mahinda Rajapaksa in the presidential election last year.

Days after Rajapaksa's victory, Fonseka was arrested and a court martial found him guilty of planning his political career while still in the military and of fraud in purchasing military ware. He was sentenced to 30 months in prison and stripped of his rank and medals.

Friday's sentence means Fonseka will have to spend three more years in jail when he finishes serving his first sentence in February 2013.

International human rights groups have long accused Sri Lanka's government of committing war crimes in the final stages of the war.

Ethnic Tamil activists say in the face of defeat several Tamil Tiger political leaders including its political wing head Balasingham Nadesan tried to surrender and approached a military sentry holding white flags, but they were shot dead.

The government denied that and said the rebels were killed in combat.

According to prosecutors, Fonseka told the Sunday Leader newspaper on December 13, 2009, he was informed that Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa ordered ground soldiers not to accommodate any surrendees.

The defence secretary is the president's younger brother.

The emergency laws curbed civil and political liberties for most of the past 30 years in Sri Lanka but lapsed in August with the president saying they were no longer needed. The laws were still effective for pending cases under them, such as Fonseka's.

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