Headlines
Sri Lankan president pardons former army chief
Colombo, Jan 21 (IANS) Sri lanka's newly elected
President Maithripala Sirisena Wednesday granted full pardon to former
army commander General Sarath Fonseka, convicted of corruption, an
official statement said.
"Former Army Commander Sarath Fonseka
was acquitted from all charges and given complete amnesty by President
Maithripala Sirisena," the President Office said in a statement, Xinhua
reported.
Fonseka, the former commander of Sri Lanka's army,
played an integral role in ending the 26-year civil war in 2009,
defeating the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
Following
the end of the war, he resigned from the military and decided to
contest the 2010 presidential election against the former President
Mahinda Rajapaksa, which Fonseka eventually lost.
After the loss,
Fonseka was arrested Feb 8, 2010, and it was announced that he would be
court-martialed for committing "military offences".
He was found guilty of corrupt military supply deals and sentenced to three years in prison.
After serving more than two years in prison, Fonseka was released May 21, 2012, but his civic rights were not restored.
In
November last year, he threw his support behind the opposition
coalition backing Sirisena, which swept into power Jan 9, ending
Rajapaksa's decade-long rule.
The pardon clears the way for Fonseka to return as a major force in local politics.