Sri Lanka’s Alleged War Criminal & Human Rights Violator Elevated To Field Marshal
March 23, 2015
General Gardihewa Sarath Chandralal Fonseka ( known as Sarath Fonseka) was elevated to the rank of Field Marshal by the President Maithripala Sirisena yesterday. He is the first Sri Lankan to be honoured with the highest rank in the Army.
Fonseka
“he was the Army Commander during the war and particularly during the last days and weeks of the war which ended in May 2009. Several independent reports, witnesses and evidences including the report by the UN Panel of Experts have alleged that international human rights and international humanitarian laws were breached during the war and in particular at the end of the war. It is alleged war crimes were committed. The man in charge of the army that’s accused of all these was General Fonseka.” Suren Surendiran, the spokesperson of the Global Tamil Forum told Colombo Telegraph.
Fonseka joined the Sri Lanka Army in 1970 and served as the Commander of the Army from 6 December 2005 – 15 July 2009. As commander, he oversaw the final phase of the Sri Lankan Civil War, which resulted in the total defeat of the militant Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam organisation. He also survived an assassination attempt when an LTTE suicide bomber attacked his motorcade in April 2006. Following the end of the war Fonseka was promoted to a four star rank in the Sri Lanka Army, becoming the first serving officer to hold a four star rank.
In November 2009, Fonseka formally announced his candidature in the 2010 Sri Lankan Presidential Election. Following his election defeat, Fonseka was arrested on 8 February 2010, and the government announced he will be court-martialed for committing “military offences.” He was found guilty of corrupt military supply deals and sentenced to three years in prison. After serving more than 2 years in prison, Fonseka was released on 21 May 2012. As per the pre-election statement, President Maithripala Sirisena, gave him the Complete Presidential Pardon and acquitted him of all the charges against him on the 22nd of January 2015, restoring his Civic Rights.
According to a leaked US diplomatic cable, the US government had once cancelled Fonseka’s invitation to attend a Chief of Defense conference in Hawaii due to U.S. concerns about his involvement in human-rights violations during the conflict with the LTTE.
