Sarath Fonseka gets conditional bail

The Colombo High Court yesterday granted conditional bail to jailed former Army Commander Sarath Fonseka in the case over harboring of army deserters during the presidential election in 2010.

When the bail application forwarded by Fonseka was taken up for consideration by the Colombo High Court Judge Sunil Rajapaksa, the State counsel said they had no objections to the bail request.

Fonseka’s legal counsel Saliya Peiris informed the court that all charges against the defendant have been filed under the penal code and therefore there is no obstacle in granting him bail.

He added that President Mahinda Rajapaksa has already decided to release Fonseka and the Cabinet has already approved it.

The Judge then granted a conditional cash bail of one million rupees and two surety bails of 2.5 million rupees each.

The Court also ordered him to hand over his passport to the judiciary and pointed out that if there was a necessity to leave the country, he could do so with the permission of the judiciary.  Further hearing was adjourned until the 7th of next month.  However, Fonseka, who is currently serving a three-year jail term after the courts found him guilty of the White Flag case, will remain in custody until his release by the President’s order this weekend.