A Sri Lankan Appeal Court on Friday dismissed former army chief Sarath Fonseka's plea against his 30-month prison sentence, a court official said. In a unanimous decision, the Appeal Court upheld the court martial's verdict which sentenced Fonseka in September last year for corruption related to military procurements when he was army chief between 2005 and 2009.
In November this year the High Court sentenced Fonseka to three years in jail for his remarks to a newspaper saying Tamil Tiger rebels who surrendered had been killed, on the orders of defence secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa. A retired four-star general, Fonseka led the Sri Lankan army to its May 2009 victory over the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, ending the island's 37-year separatist conflict.
He subsequently fell out with the government and says the legal cases against him are politically motivated. He faces another case in which he is accused of harbouring military deserters who he allegedly used as bodyguards during his failed election challenge against Rajapakse. Fonseka was arrested shortly after the 2010 presidential poll. He also lost the parliamentary seat he won in April 2010 legislative elections.
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