[QODLink]
Central & South Asia
Ex-Sri Lankan army chief leaves prison
Sarath Fonseka walks free from prison after being handed pardon by President Rajapaksa, his former political rival.
Last Modified: 21 May 2012 12:23

Sarath Fonseka, Sri Lanka's former army chief, has has been released from prison after President Mahinda Rajapaksa granted him a pardon, coinciding with the third anniversary of the island nation's victory over Tamil separatists.

"I am free. I will devote my life for my people," Fonseka said on Monday as he emerged from Welikada prison in the capital, Colombo.

His freedom comes more than two years after he was jailed on corruption charges following an unsuccessful bid to unseat the president in 2010.

Rajapaksa was under international pressure to release his highest-profile rival.
Topics in this article
People
Country
Organisation
Featured on Al Jazeera
Al Jazeera's exclusive publishing of a key Guantanamo prison military document lays bare the brutality of force-feeding.
Former military official says poverty and anger in indigenous communities mean conditions for an "insurgency" are ripe.
A four-part series that gives a rare insight into the country on the move, with history in tow.
Series on the Palestinian 'catastrophe' of 1948 that led to dispossession and conflict that still endures.
Featured
Syria: The War Within
Two years since the start of the uprising, rebels and Assad's forces remain locked in conflict.
China Rising
A four-part series that gives a rare insight into the country on the move, with history in tow.
Crisis in Bangladesh
Extensive coverage of war crimes tribunals and controversial calls for blasphemy laws.
Al-Nakba
Series on the Palestinian 'catastrophe' of 1948 that led to dispossession and conflict that still endures.
Korea Tensions
Al Jazeera looks at the escalation of military threats between N Korea and geopolitical rivals.
join our mailing list