Gen. Fonseka pardoned in Sri Lanka

Gen. (ret) Sarath Fonseka

General (ret) Sarath Fonseka, former Sri Lanka Chief of Army Staff, has been pardoned and restored to his retired general officer status. The action follows the defeat of President Mahendra Rajapaksa, under whom he was court-martialed, in the recent election. Details here. Excerpt:

Fonseka was jailed after challenging then President Mahinda Rajapaksa in the 2010 election in a move widely condemned as political retribution by Rajapaksa.

[President Maithripala] Sirisena defeated Rajapaksa in a Jan. 8 presidential election. 

Fonseka was sentenced in November 2011 to three years in prison for allegedly implicating the defense secretary and president's brother in war crimes during the civil war. Before that sentence, he was court-martialed on several charges related to his military service. He was stripped of his title, medals, pension and other honors, dishonorably discharged from the army and given a separate 30-month jail term. Fonseka said the cases were a political vendetta against him for daring to run against Rajapaksa.

While in detention, Fonseka won a parliamentary seat on the opposition ticket in April 2010, but was disqualified from holding office after the court-martial.

Although Fonseka was freed from prison in 2012 as a result of a pardon by Rajapaksa, he was not allowed to contest elections. Under Sri Lankan law, a person who has served six months or more of a prison term longer than two years cannot contest elections for seven years.