{"id":118197,"date":"2014-01-09T05:08:57","date_gmt":"2014-01-08T23:38:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=118197"},"modified":"2014-01-10T13:41:09","modified_gmt":"2014-01-10T08:11:09","slug":"lasantha-murdered-by-mr-gr-group-former-army-chief-fonseka","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/lasantha-murdered-by-mr-gr-group-former-army-chief-fonseka\/","title":{"rendered":"Lasantha Murdered By MR-GR Group &#8211; Former Army Chief Fonseka"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Former Army Chief General Sarath Fonseka today claimed that the\u00a0Sunday Leader editor\u00a0<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Lasantha+Wickrematunge&amp;x=9&amp;y=9\">Lasantha Wickrematunge<\/a>&#8216;s<\/span>\u00a0murder was carried out by a gang operating with the blessings of President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his brother Secretary to the Ministry of Defence Gotabaya Rajapaksa.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/general_fonseka_-colombo-telegraph.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-2044\" alt=\"Fonseka speaks to reporters during a news conference in Colombo\" src=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/general_fonseka_-colombo-telegraph-150x150.jpg\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/general_fonseka_-colombo-telegraph-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/general_fonseka_-colombo-telegraph-50x50.jpg 50w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a>He denied the allegation that he was involved in the murder. Speaking to the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/sinhala\/sri_lanka\/2014\/01\/140108_lasantha_murder_fonseka.shtml\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">BBC<\/span><\/a>\u00a0the former General claimed that this same group was involved in attacks on other journalists and killing Tamil MP <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Nadarajah_Raviraj\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Nadarajah Raviraj<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Fonseka made these fresh allegations against the ruling siblings when responding to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/fonseka-killed-lasantha-president-told-lal-three-times-uvindu-tells-navi-pillay\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">the comment<\/span><\/a> made by Lasantha\u2019s brother Lal Wickremetunga that the President had told him on at least three occasions that it was Fonseka who had carried out the murder.<\/p>\n<p>Related posts;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong><a title=\"Exclusive: Leaked Emails From Attoney Hemantha Warnakulasuriya PC To Sonali Implies Rajapaksa Regime Plans To Fix Fonseka For Lasantha Murder\" href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/exclusive-leaked-emails-from-attoney-hemantha-warnakulasuriya-pc-to-sonali-implies-rajapaksa-regime-plans-to-fix-fonseka-for-lasantha-murder\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">Exclusive: Leaked Emails From Attoney Hemantha Warnakulasuriya PC To Sonali Implies Rajapaksa Regime Plans To Fix Fonseka For Lasantha Murder<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/fonseka-killed-lasantha-president-told-lal-three-times-uvindu-tells-navi-pillay\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>\u201cFonseka Killed Lasantha\u201d President Told Lal Three Times: Uvindu Tells Navi Pillay<\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p>BBC Sinhala report;<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/xjsNIxnonQM?rel=0;showinfo\" height=\"357\" width=\"634\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":41900,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,1,2375],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-118197","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-news","category-stories"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.3 - 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