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Sri Lankans demand release of jailed ex-army chief
Opposition lawmakers and activists have protested to demand the release of Sri Lanka’s jailed former army chief-turned-presidential candidate, whom they label a political prisoner.
Their protest Wednesday in the capital, Colombo, came exactly two years after Sarath Fonseka was arrested. His arrest came two weeks after he lost a presidential election to the incumbent, Mahinda Rajapaksa.
A court-martial found Fonseka guilty of fraud and sentenced him to a 30-month prison term. In November 2011, a court sentenced him to an additional three years for implicating the defense secretary in war crimes during Sri Lanka’s civil war.
Fonseka has said the cases are a political vendetta to persecute him for daring to run against Rajapaksa.
