By DPA,
Colombo: A Marxist opposition party held a demonstration Tuesday as it escalated its campaign to secure the release of Sri Lanka’s former army commander who ended a 26-year conflict last year with the defeat of Tamil separatist rebels.
About 700 people participated in the protest in Colombo by the People’s Liberation Front, or JVP, which called for the freeing of retired general Sarath Fonseka.
Fonseka has been in military custody for six weeks on allegations of conspiracy against the government following his arrest a short time after he lost January’s presidential election to incumbent Mahinda Rajapaksa.
The demonstrators, who included party activists and Buddhist monks, also accused the government of depriving Fonseka of his basic needs while in custody.
“The government is trying to physically weaken the general so that he faces natural death while in custody,” charged Vijitha Herath, a former MP for the JVP.
He said that Monday, a relative of Fonseka was not allowed to take him his meals on the grounds that only Fonseka’s wife, Anoma Fonseka, is allowed to deliver meals for him.
He also said the former army chief was being held in a room that lacks proper ventilation, which is harmful to his health.
Fonseka survived three assassination attacks by the Tamil rebels, including a 2006 suicide bombing that seriously injured him.
“The general has health problems and, therefore, good ventilation is required,” Herath said.
But military spokesman Major General Prasad Samarasinghe rejected the charge, saying Fonseka was being held in a flat within the navy’s headquarters that has adequate ventilation and basic facilities.
The court martial proceedings against Fonseka have already commenced, and the next hearing was scheduled for April 6.
Fonseka is contesting the April 8 parliamentary elections under the Democratic National Alliance, which the JVP backs.
He spearheaded the military campaign that defeated the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in May but fell out with Rajapaksa after the end of the war. Fonseka then entered politics and ran unsuccessfully in the January 26 election.