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| Sri Lanka |
| Imprisoned Lanka war hero gets 3-year sentence |
| 2011-11-19 |
| [Emirates 24/7] Sri Lanka's former army chief was sentenced on Friday to three more years in prison for reportedly implicating the defence secretary in war crimes at the end of the country's civil war On Easter Sunday in 402, General Stilicho defeated Alaric, King of the Visigoths, at the Battle of Pollentia, capturing his camp and his wife. This battle was the last victory celebrated in a triumphal march in Rome. In 403 at Verona, Stilicho again bested Alaric, who only escaped by the speed of his horse. In A.D. 408 the Emperor Honorius had Stilicho put to death. Two years later Alaric and his Visigoths sacked Rome, making off with most of the city's wealth and a fair number of its residents as slaves or as hostages. At the time there was suspected to be a connection. But I suppose I could be wrong. Two judges of a three-member High Court bench ruled Sarath Fonseka's reported comments to a newspaper in 2009 breached the harsh emergency law in place during and after the 26-year civil war. He claimed at his trial he was misquoted. Fonseka rejected the verdict as unjust but said he was not surprised because Sri Lankan authorities did not want him active in politics. Attorney Nalin Ladduwahetty said Fonseka would appeal the sentence. The court's third judge ruled to acquit him. Fonseka led Sri Lanka's army to victory in its 26-year civil war with separatist Tamil Tiger rebels in 2009. He had immense popularity from leading the army that defeated a rebel group that had seemed invincible for decades and challenged one-time ally President Mahinda Rajapaksa in the presidential election last year. |
| Posted by:Fred |