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Message: <blockquote data-quote="nismok" data-source="post: 6677910" data-attributes="member: 109094">NEW DELHI: Sri  Lanka's former army chief Sarath Fonseka will face immediate court  martial for treason and he can be jailed for up to five years, the  country's Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa said in an interview  published Thursday. Rajapaksa, a brother of President Mahinda Rajapaksa,  also told Singapore's Straits Times that Fonseka had planned to impose  military rule and his candidature in the presidential election that he  lost was backed by the US and Norway.  Speaking candidly but harshly about Fonseka, Gotabaya  rubbished claims that Fonseka played a key role in the military victory  over the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in May last year. "What  he achieved we could have done with any other commander. There were  better officers."  Fonseka was arrested Monday after being charged with  conspiring against the government of Mahinda Rajapaksa, his former  friend, and creating rifts in the army. Fonseka's supporters have denied  the charge.  The younger Rajapaksa, who as defence secretary oversaw  the war against the Tigers, said Fonseka would be charged under the Army  Act. "Under the Army Act, any officer can be charged under military act  within six months of leaving the military. There are other things we  will do under civil code."  He went on: "The court martial will begin immediately  after the assembling of the summary of evidence is done. I don't know  how long it will take because that depends on lawyers. But we want to  finish it soon. In less than six months maybe. The severity of the  charges is very high. He can be put in jail for as long as five years."  Rajapaksa said Fonseka worked with politicians and tried  to win them over while holding the Chief of Defence Staff assignment.  "This was completely wrong because he was sitting in Security Council  meetings. It amounts to treason."  "He was planning military rule... He was completely  trying to isolate the politics and take the country on a different  path... In his very last stages as army commander he began bringing his  people into Colombo and his regiment, positioning his senior regiment  people all over... All these things were looking like a military coup,"  said Rajapaksa.  The president's brother accused a section of the West of  conspiring with Fonseka, who has accused the Rajapaksa brothers of war  crimes in the military campaign against the LTTE.  "We are 100 percent convinced that Western countries  with vested interests were backing him. Even the US, and countries like  Norway, spent lots of money on his campaign.  "I have proof of the Norwegian government paying  journalists to write against the government," he said. "They have vested  interests and used to support the Tamil Tigers in various ways. They  also supported Fonseka to try oust the government."  Rajapaksa also linked Fonseka with the chilling January  2009 murder of Sri Lankan editor Lasantha Wickrematunge.  "We know there was no other person (involved). You have  to see the circumstances. Some of the media people harmed had never  criticized any other person except him or people close to him. Nothing  happened to those who had been criticizing me or the president.  "We have a clue whom he has used (in the killing). We  are very convinced. In fact, I know for sure. He was definitely  responsible for five or six cases (of disappearances) where media people  were involved. Now I am going after the people who did the executions.  The truth will come out very soon." <a href="http://www.sakaaltimes.com/SakaalTimesBeta/20100211/4617671404645266164.htm" target="_blank"></a><a href="http://www.sakaaltimes.com/SakaalTimesBeta/20100211/4617671404645266164.htm" target="_blank"></a><a href="http://www.sakaaltimes.com/SakaalTimesBeta/20100211/4617671404645266164.htm" target="_blank">Source</a></blockquote>

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