(Lanka-e-News, Feb.12, 2010, 7.10PM) The Supreme Court (SC) today (12) rejected the preliminary objections raised by the Attorney General against the fundamental rights (FR) petition filed by Anoma Fonseka on behalf of her husband Gen. Fonseka.

The Bench comprising Chief Justice Asoka De Silva, Shiranee Thilakawardena and Chandra Ekanayake examined the petition.

The petitioners ,wife of the General, Anoma Fonseka, and Attorney at law Sharmila Perera in their petition claimed that the General was forcibly and wrongly arrested under the military laws when he is now not in Army service, and requested the Court to release him.

Defense Secretary Gotabaya Rajapakse, Army Commander Lieutenant Jagath Jayasooriya, Major General Sumith Manawadu, the officer in charge of Colombo security, the Attorney General and several others were cited as respondents.
The Solicitor General Sanjaya Rajaratnam on behalf of the Attorney General, raising objections to the petition said, the application was not legally valid as the first petitioner applicant Anoma Fonseka cannot represent her husband. As the second petitioner has also not filed the Lawyer’s affidavit with the petition, the application is not valid under the constitution and is in conflict with the SC regulations. The Solicitor General therefore requested Court to reject the petition. However, the Court refused to accept his arguments.
The SC pointed out that more than the constitutional requirements and the Court regulations, the subject matter at hand, the FR petition is overriding; hence, the Court rejected the preliminary objections of the Solicitor General.

The SC gave permission to examine the petition as to whether there is indeed a violation of FR under Sections 11,13(1) and 13 (2), Chapter 111 of the constitution.

Although the State counsel objected to this, the Court told him to file the answer on the 23 Feb., the next date of the case.

The Lawyer filing the election petition, PC and Attorney at law Wijedasa Rajapakse and a Justice of the peace were given permission by the Court to meet Gen. Fonseka and get instructions regarding the filing of the election petition. This was an additional request made in the FR petition.

President’s Counsel and Attorney at Law Shibly Azeez appeared on behalf of the petitioners.

The case was postponed to 23rd February for further examination of the petition

Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court takes up Fonseka’s arrest
AFP/File

COLOMBO (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court agreed Friday to hear a challenge to the arrest of defeated presidential candidate Sarath Fonseka, as opposition parties stepped up a campaign for his immediate release.

The court accepted a petition by Fonseka’s wife requesting that his arrest be ruled illegal, and ordered the state to allow the former army chief family visits and medicines.

“The court granted leave to proceed with the case because it appeared, on the face of it, there had been a breach of fundamental rights of General Fonseka,” a court official told AFP.

The court was scheduled to reconvene on February 23.

Fonseka was arrested on Monday, two weeks after being trounced in presidential elections by the incumbent, President Mahinda Rajapakse. His detention triggered violent protests in Colombo and other parts of Sri Lanka.

The defence ministry says he is to be court-martialled on unspecified charges of conspiring against the government.

A lawyer for Fonseka said they regarded the Supreme Court decision to take up the petition as a major victory.

Hundreds of Fonseka supporters packed the courtroom, while police manned barricades outside.

Anti-riot squads had been put on alert after violent clashes Wednesday outside the court complex between Fonseka loyalists and ruling-party activists.

Members of the elite Special Task Force commandos were also deployed in the city.

Hundreds of lawyers marched outside the court after the hearing carrying placards demanding Fonseka’s release.

The island’s influential Buddhist clergy responded to the spreading anti-government protests and said they planned a meeting next week to agree on a collective move to press the government to defuse tensions.

“Serious doubts have been raised in the country about democracy and good governance and we as the Buddhist clergy are concerned about it,” the country’s topmost monks said in a joint statement.

“We cannot afford to remain silent. We wish to have a meeting of all leading Buddhist monks to decide on a course of action on February 18,” they said.

As the court proceedings got underway in Colombo, the parliamentary opposition leader and former premier Ranil Wickremesinghe met President Rajapakse to push for the former army chief’s freedom.

Wickremesinghe also insisted on being allowed to meet Fonseka, who is detained at the navy headquarters in Colombo.

Fonseka’s wife says her husband needs medicines on a regular basis for the injuries he received in an April 2006 suicide bomb attack blamed on Tamil Tiger rebels.

An opposition statement said Rajapakse promised to take a decision on the fate of his former army commander, but only after military investigations into the alleged conspiracy against the government.

The government has yet to specify the charges Fonseka will face, but Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse — the president’s brother — said he had clearly been plotting a military coup.

The detention of Fonseka has sparked international concern with the United States, the European Union and the United Nations, among others, asking Colombo to ensure that due process was followed and that democracy was not undermined.

As the battlefield architect of the victory over the Tamil Tiger rebels last May, Fonseka was hailed as a national hero for finally crushing their 37-year campaign for an independent Tamil homeland.

But his bid to translate that military success into political power proved his undoing.

Fonseka, who quit the military in November, entered politics as the common opposition presidential candidate in the January 26 vote, which was easily won by Rajapakse.