18 March 2010 / AP, COLOMBO
Judges presiding over the court-martial of Sri Lanka’s defeated presidential candidate indefinitely postponed a hearing into one allegation against him on Wednesday, a defense attorney said, but proceedings will continue on another charge.
Sarath Fonseka, who as army chief led Sri Lanka to victory in its decades-long civil war but then fell out of favor after unsuccessfully challenging President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s re-election bid, appeared before the court-martial on Tuesday on accusations he prepared the groundwork for his run while still in uniform. A hearing was supposed to open on Wednesday into a second charge -- related to alleged breaches in the purchase of military hardware -- but defense attorney Nuwan Bopage said the panel of three army officers postponed it. They want to ask Rajapaksa if another panel should handle the second charge. Reporters are barred from the court-martial, which will continue in April on the first charge. Fonseka has questioned the impartiality of the judges, saying the panel included two men whom Fonseka had disciplined when he ran the army. The panel’s third member was a close relative of the current army commander who initiated the court-martial, Fonseka’s lawyers said. Fonseka, a former four-star general, also argued that his case can’t be heard by low-ranking officers, according to law. He pleaded not guilty to the charges filed Tuesday, Dissanayake said.
