By Ranga Sirilal
COLOMBO, Sept 17 (Reuters) - Sri Lanka on Friday found the
former army chief who led the military victory over the Tamil
Tiger separatists guilty of misappropriation of funds, which
can land him in prison for up to three years.
Sarath Fonseka's sentence was widely expected after he was
stripped of his four-star general rank last month in a similar
court-martial, which found him guilty of involvement in
politics while in uniform. [ID:nSGE67C0EP]
He had challenged his former commander-in-chief, President
Mahinda Rajapaksa, in a bitterly personal campaign and lost in
a January election.
He was arrested on Feb. 8 but still won a parliamentary
seat in April.
"He was found guilty of all charges," said Lakshman
Hulugalla, the director-general at the government's Media
Centre for National Security.
The state-run Daily News in an SMS news alert said Fonseka
was sentenced for three years by the second court-martial.
It was not immediately clear whether Fonseka will be
transferred to a civilian prison from military custody at navy
headquarters after the president signs the sentence.
Fonseka could lose his parliamentary seat if he is
imprisoned for either being found guilty of a penal code
offence with a minimum sentence of two years, or for not
attending parliament for three consecutive months.
Fonseka had stood side-by-side with Rajapaksa after the
defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam after 25 years
of war in May last year, but fell out later over what he said
was false accusations of planning a coup and being sidelined.
(Writing by Shihar Aneez; Editing by Bryson Hull and Sanjeev
Miglani)
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