The past few days have seen rumours that General Sarath Fonseka, sentenced for implicating the defence secretary in war crimes, would receive a pardon from Sri Lanka's president, Mahinda Rajapaksa. The reports, said to have emerged from the Presidential Secretariat sources, alleged that the pardon would be announced on New Years Day.
According to the country's constitution, the president can “grant a pardon, either free or subject to lawful conditions, grant any respite, either indefinite or such period as the President may think fit".
No such presidential pardon materialised.
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