Three-year jail term for Sarath Fonseka
September 18th, 2010 - 12:52 am ICT by IANSColombo, Sep 17 (IANS) A military court here Friday sentenced former Sri Lankan Army chief Sarath Fonseka to three years in prison for corruption, Xinhua reported.
He was tried for corruption during his tenure as chief of a military tender board. This was the second court martial faced by Fonseka.
According to media reports, he was charged with favouring a company owned by his son-in-law, who is also an accused in a separate case filed in the high court on the same charges.
In the first court martial last month, the court ruled that Fonseka had indulged in politics while still in the army and stripped him of all his general’s rank and medals won during military service.
Fonseka Wednesday said he was prepared to go to jail as he was brought to court to be present at the hearing of the election petition filed by him.
Fonseka challenged incumbent Mahinda Rajapaksa in the January presidential election and lost by nearly 60 percent of the vote.
He accused the of a political witch hunt by framing charges against him.
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- Court martial politically motivated: Sri Lanka's ex-army chief - Sep 09, 2010
- Sri Lanka court frees four co-accused in Fonseka 'conspiracy' case - Sep 25, 2010
- Sri Lanka military court finds former Army chief guilty - Aug 13, 2010
- Sri Lanka to boost presidential powers - Aug 30, 2010
- Sri Lankan ex-Army chief convicted for engaging in politics while on active service - Aug 13, 2010
- Sri Lanka ex-army chief convicted by military court (Lead) - Aug 13, 2010
- 'Politically victimised' Fonseka 'expects jail term' in 2nd court martial over corruption charges - Aug 20, 2010
- Sri Lankan president ratifies ex-army chief's dishonorable discharge - Aug 14, 2010
- Sri Lanka opposition protests court martial of former army chief - Aug 17, 2010
- Former Sri Lankan Army chief arrested, to be court-martialled (Second Lead) - Feb 09, 2010
- Sri Lanka's ex-army commander appears before military court - Mar 16, 2010
- Marxist party wants Sri Lanka's ex-army chief released - Mar 23, 2010
Tags: army chief, corruption, election petition, jail term, mahinda rajapaksa, medals, military court, military service, presidential election, sarath fonseka, sri lankan army, tenure, vote, witch hunt, xinhua