White Flag verdict puts Gota in a spot

Wednesday, 30 November 2011 

Several international legal experts have explained that the majority decision with regard to the verdict on the White Flag case verdict has proven the war crimes allegations against the President, and the Defence Secretary, a senior official at the Legal Ministry said.

The experts have noted that the head of the High Court trail at bar, Judge Deepali Wijesundera and Judge Razin have indirectly accepted the contents of the story published by The Sunday Leader Editor Frederica Jansz by convicting Fonseka when had clearly denied making any such comment in court.

The majority verdict states that the respondent’s side has argued that Frderica Jansz had not followed the journalism ethics before writing the story by properly clarifying the details.

It states that Shavendra Silva in his evidence has said that he had not responded to the questions when they were posed to him after contacting him over the telephone.

Frederica Jansz had stated that she had telephoned the respondent on 12.12.2009 on his mobile phone and had informed him that the article would be published and had requested for further information.

The accused had meanwhile stated that Frederica Jansz had spoken to him for about 2 minutes over the mobile phone on 12.12.2009.

Frederica has said that she had contacted Military Spokesperson Udaya Nanayakkara and inquired about the incident.

The majority verdict states, “Therefore, it cannot be said that Frederica Jansz had published the story without clarifying the facts.”

According to the majority decision, the judges have accepted the background to the story, which is the allegation on war crimes.