Sri Lanka arrests defeated candidate

Sri Lanka's military has arrested defeated presidential candidate General Sarath Fonseka. He is charged with conspiring against the government while serving as the head of the Army.

Fonseka lost the January 26th election to President Mahinda Rajapaksa by a margin of 18 percentage points, and has since accused his former Commander in Chief of rigging the vote.

The government, in turn, has accused him of planning a coup and plotting an assassination attempt. This development caps a rapid fall from grace for the outspoken general who was previously considered a national hero for leading the army to victory against the Tamil Tigers. He quit his military post in November to run as the candidate of a disparate opposition alliance.