New Bench for second court martial

The panel of judges to hear the second Court Martial against General Sarath Fonseka will be appointed within a few days, said Army Commander Lieutenant General Jagath Jayasuriya.

Making a statement to the Daily News, the Army Commander said that he has made his recommendations to the President to appoint the new bench as the defence counsels for Sarath Fonseka raised objections for hearing the two Courts Martial against him by the same bench.

He also said that according to the provisions of the Army Act two courts martial could be heard by the same bench but for the sake of maintaining high degree of transparency it was decided to appoint another panel to try the second case against General Sarath Fonseka.

The second court martial was appointed to hear charges of alleged contravention of military procurement procedures against General Sarath Fonseka.