Gota Wants General Executed

Defense Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse talking to BBC's Hardtalk programme has threatened to execute Gen. Sarath Fonseka. Responding angrily to the prospect of Fonseka giving evidence regarding war crimes Gotabhaya Rajapakse had said, "He can't do that. He was the commander. That's treason. We will hang him if he does that. I'm telling you! … How can he betray the country? He is a liar, liar, liar."

 
However, the defense secretary has ruled out any possibility of an independent, third-party investigation of alleged war crimes committed by both the Sri Lankan army and the Tamil Tigers in the final phase of the war saying, "We are an independent country, we have the ability to investigate all these things."
 
Stephen Sackur's "Hard talk on the Road" programme is on the BBC News Channel this week. A report on the interview with Mr. Gotabhaya Rajapaksha is published on the web, guardian.co.uk.

The BBC World Service will air four ‘Hardtalk’ programs on Sri Lanka beginning Monday (June 7) on BBC World News. The first of the four-part series will begin with "Tamils and the broken north" with Stephen Sackur talking to military officials, the Defense Secretary and former LTTE fighters (who BBC said live in hiding) and civilians trying to rebuild their lives.
Tuesday’s program is titled "Democracy under threat" and Sackur will talk to Defense Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse and the main question he would ask is "Has Sri Lanka’s ruling family replaced democracy with their own authoritarian rule?"
Wednesday’s program is titled "Former Tiger child soldiers rebuilding their lives."
The final part of the program is an interview with Defence Secretary on the Sri Lanka army’s conduct in the final days of the war, accusation of war crimes, the economy, democracy, the judiciary, freedom of the press and the future of the Tamil people in Sri Lanka. Broadcast times are 0330h, 0830h, 1530h and 2030h GMT.