General Sarath Fonseka, the defeated candidate in Sri Lanka’s presidential election, has been arrested at his office in Colombo on charges of plotting to overthrow the country’s government, defense officials said, according to Aljazeera.net Tuesday.
In a statement posted on its website, the defense ministry said Fonseka would be charged with “fraudulent acts and other military offences” from his time in the army, which ended in November when he quit and entered the presidential race.
Keheliya Rambukwella, a defence ministry spokesperson, said Fonseka had been “plotting against the president while in the military”.
– When he was the army commander and chief of defence staff and member of the security council, he had direct contact with opposition political parties, which under the military law can amount to conspiracy, he said.
Fonseka was defeated by Rajapaksa last month by six million votes to four million.
Jehan Perera, an analyst with the National Peace Council activist group, said he believed that the arrest was a political move possibly aimed at preventing Fonseka challenging the election result in court or standing in upcoming parliamentary polls.
– We have to ask why now? Why not six months ago when he was a military officer? he said.
Fonseka has refused to accept his election defeat, saying his supporters were intimidated and the result fixed.
The former army chief has also accused the government of trying to frame him and alleges there is a plot to kill him.
Several senior military officials who were considered a “direct threat” to national security have been removed since his defeat in the election.
