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Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka President Orders Ex-Army Chief Freed
2012-05-21
[An Nahar] Sri Lanka's president has ordered the release of his jugged
Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit!
electoral rival, ex-army chief Sarath Fonseka, bowing to U.S.-led international pressure three years after the end of the island's long ethnic war.

The 61-year-old former four-star general could leave prison on Monday following legal formalities, an official said Sunday, after President Mahinda Rajapakse marked the third anniversary of the Tamil Tigers' crushing defeat.

Fonseka was placed in durance vile
Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit!
two weeks after he unsuccessfully challenged Rajapakse's re-election in January 2010.

The president signed the papers ordering Fonseka's release on Friday evening before leaving for Qatar on Saturday, front man Banda Jayasekera said.

"Papers will be sent to the Ministry of Justice on Monday," he said.

Fonseka's wife Anoma Fonseka said she welcomed the decision to release her husband but was unaware of the terms of the presidential pardon.

"I welcome the announcement (of the release)," she told news hounds outside a private hospital where prison authorities took her husband for treatment for a respiratory problem two weeks ago.

"I hope the president will keep his promise to release him unconditionally," she said, adding that she hoped there would be no legal impediment for him to engage in politics.

However,
facts are stubborn; statistics are more pliable...
official sources said the pardon only cancels out the sentence and Fonseka may not have his civic rights to participate in elections for seven years from the time he walks out of jail.

Fonseka's Democratic National Alliance (DNA) party politician and chief negotiator Tiran Alles said they will campaign for a complete pardon.
Posted by:Fred

#1  He was threatening to win the election for president. Can't have that. The fact that he broke the Tamil Tigers was irrelevant.
Posted by: gromky   2012-05-21 11:24  

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