E-Paper
Lankan govt threatens legal action against Fonseka
Sri Lanka has threatened to take legal action against its former military chief Sarath Fonseka over his comments that troops had committed war crimes against Tamil Tigers.
Sri Lanka has threatened to take legal action against its former military chief Sarath Fonseka over his comments that troops had committed war crimes against Tamil Tigers.
"We are looking into possibilities of legal action against Fonseka in accordance with the country's constitution and law," Human Rights Minister Mahinda Samarsinghe said. Fonseka, who is running as a joint opposition candidate against President Mahinda Rajapaksa, had said in an exclusive interview that Sri Lankan forces had shot in cold blood three prominent Tiger leaders, who were surrendering during the final phase of the war that vanquished LTTE.
The minister's strong reaction comes a day after United Nations sought an explanation from the Lankan government on the circumstances leading to the deaths of former Tamil Tiger spokesman Balasingham Nadesan and two others in May this year.
Fonseka, in the interview, had said that this information was given to him by an unnamed state media reporter embedded with the troops.
According to international estimates, up to 100,000 people were killed in the ethnic conflict on the island which waged for more than three decades.
Samarsinghe's threat came as a top Sri Lankan military commander in Wanni claimed that an inquiry had found no truth in reports that military guards had traded sex for food in welfare camps set up for Tamil refugees during the final phase of the country's war against the LTTE.
