Sri Lanka's ex-army chief freed from jail

May 21, 2012 |

Colombo

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Sri Lanka's ex-army chief Sarath Fonseka was released from prison on Monday after he was jailed following his unsuccessful bid to unseat the president in 2010, and vowed to ‘save’ the country.

"I am free. I will devote my life for my people," Fonseka shouted to thousands of supporters as he emerged from Welikada prison in Colombo, after receiving a pardon ordered last week by President Mahinda Rajapakse.

"I will not betray the people who stood behind me. I will save the country. The people will correct the injustice caused to me... I was a victim of a vendetta," he said, referring to his incarceration of more than two years.

Fonseka led troops to victory over the separatist Tamil Tiger rebels in 2009, but then fell out with Rajapakse over who deserved most credit for the military campaign, and ran against the president in a January 2010 election.

The government has not said why it freed Fonseka, but his Democratic National Alliance (DNA) party has said that it was negotiating his release for five months.

Fonseka was regarded by Washington as a political prisoner and US officials had repeatedly called for his release.

Rajapakse on Friday ordered an official pardon for Fonseka, 61, who was on Monday discharged from hospital back to jail after two weeks of treatment for a respiratory ailment.

Thousands gathered outside the prison to greet the former general as he emerged wearing white national dress, carrying a loud-hailer to address them.

Two weeks after his poll defeat by Rajapakse in early 2010, Fonseka was detained on a charge of corruption relating to military procurements. He was given a 30-month jail sentence in September 2010.

In November 2011, Fonseka was sentenced to three more years in jail for saying that Tiger rebels who surrendered had been killed on the orders of the president's brother Gotabhaya Rajapakse, who is defence secretary.

Fonseka has also angered Rajapakse by saying he would testify before any international tribunal probing possible war crimes charges after the United Nations said thousands of civilians were killed in the last months of fighting.

Fonseka's DNA party, which he founded to contest the 2010 general election, has just three seats in the 225-member parliament.

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