Ex-defence chief to run for SL president

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka´s former defence secretary, who faces trials at home and in the US for alleged corruption and murder, will enter this year´s presidential race, loyalists said on Thursday.

They said Gotabhaya Rajapakse, 70, who served in the cabinet when his brother Mahinda Rajapaksa was president for nearly a decade until 2015, will stand for the newly formed Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) party.

Mahinda is barred from running again by a constitutional provision which limits presidential terms to two.

Another brother and former minister, Basil Rajapakse, told reporters in Colombo that Mahinda would be the leader of the new party.

Ex-defence chief Gotabhaya was in charge when security forces crushed Tamil rebels and ended a 37-year-long separatist war in May 2009.

The no-holds-barred military campaign also triggered allegations of grave human rights abuses, including the killing of up to 40,000 Tamil civilians in the final months of fighting.

Gotabhaya is currently on bail facing prosecution for allegedly siphoning off millions of rupees of state cash to build a monument for his parents when his brother was president.