President Rajapaksa of Sri Lanka denounces army critics at a pageant to celebrate last year’s victory over Tamil Tiger rebels.
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Defeated Sri Lankan presidential candidate Gen Sarath Fonseka has for the first time appeared before a civilian court to deny inciting unrest.
He is alleged to have said in a newspaper interview last year that the defence secretary ordered the killing of surrendering Tamil rebels.
The general appeared before Colombo magistrates to protest his innocence.
He said he had been misquoted by the newspaper and that the case was part of an attempt to silence him.
He is accused of saying that Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa – who is the brother of President Mahinda Rajapaksa – ordered the killings of Tamil rebels who surrendered during last year’s military offensive against the group.
‘Frivolous case’
Gen Fonseka is in military custody and faces separate court martial charges of engaging in politics while in uniform and overseeing corrupt arms procurements.
Gen Fonseka has filed several petitions in higher courts challenging his arrest in February, 12 days after he failed to unseat President Rajapaksa in elections.
The general led the military offensive which resulted in the elimination of the separatist Tamil Tiger leadership in May last year.
It effectively ended 37 years of ethnic conflict which had claimed up to 100,000 lives.
But Gen Fonseka fell out with the president and his brother over who should take the most credit for the victory.
"It is ironic that the man who was hailed a national hero for crushing Tamil Tigers is being brought before court exactly a year later," said Gen Fonseka’s lawyer, Nalin Laduwahetty. "This is a frivolous case."
The judge adjourned the hearing until 26 May.
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Media watchdog group Reporters Without Borders has named the leaders of China, Russia and Rwanda as some of the world’s worst "predators of freedom".
The report, marking World Press Freedom Day, lists what the Paris-based group regards as the 40 worst offenders against the freedom of the press.
North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-il and the head of Burma’s military government Than Shwe, are also on the list.
Mexico is named as among the most dangerous countries for journalists.
Sixty-two journalists have been killed in Mexico over the last decade.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has "promoted a climate of pumped-up national pride that encourages the persecution of dissidents and freethinkers", the report contends.
The Basque separate group Eta in Spain and criminal gangs in Italy are also said to have threatened journalists.
Israeli Defence Forces have physically injured at least 33 Palestinian journalists, the report says. Palestinian militant group Hamas is also criticised.
The report accuses Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s brother, Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, of condoning attacks on journalists.
To mark World Press Freedom Day, however, President Rajapaksa ordered the release of a journalist who was sentenced to 20 years in prison on terrorism charges.
Tamil journalist JS Tissainayagam had been convicted on the basis of articles he wrote which the government said incited racial hatred.
Political tension is rising in Rwanda ahead of elections due in August and investigative journalist Robert Mukomboz was thrown out of the country for criticising President Paul Kagame.
"The president’s office would try to dictate what I’m supposed to write, would even want to dictate the headlines, and would go to the extent of trying to draft the story for me and include my by-line," he told the BBC’s World Today programme.
Reporters Without Borders has removed several Iraqi Islamist groups from the list, arguing that, while violence remains high, journalists are no longer being singled out.
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