Sri Lanka politician cries foul

The elections were one of the most violent in the island's history

By the BBC's Frances Harrison in Colombo

A senior figure in Sri Lanka's last government says there is an attempt to frame him for the worst incident of violence in last week's parliamentary polls.

Anuruddha Ratwatte, the former Deputy Defence Minister, denied involvement in an attack which resulted in the deaths of 10 Muslims in Kandy district on polling day itself.

Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets on the day after the elections to call for Mr Ratwatte's arrest in connection with the incident.

At stake here is whether there will ever be prosecutions in connection with incidents of election violence.

EU disappointment

The European Union team that monitored the elections last year said they were disappointed that none of the alleged perpetrators of malpractice were brought to justice - something they said undermined the rule of law as well as democracy.

The ten Muslims were killed when a grenade was thrown in their vehicle as they were escorting the ballot boxes to the counting station.

Anuruddha Ratwatte denies involvement

The police found two vehicles allegedly involved in the crime both of which belonged to Mr Ratwatte who is also the president's uncle.

Mr Ratwatte called a news conference to explain that he has been the victim of an attempt to frame him.

He says the two jeeps used by his security escort were in his possession on polling day but were ambushed on the way to the capital the day after.

'Detective story'

He says a red pick up truck managed to stop the four wheel drive vehicles which were both driven by soldiers.

Although one had an armed policemen inside that officer was unable to get his pistol out of his shirt in time to use it against the assailants, he said.

The two soldiers have gone missing but Mr Ratwatte says the vehicles had their windscreens broken and were peppered with gunshots before being abandoned to make it look as if they had been involved in a clash.

The former deputy defence minister said the whole business resembled a detective story aimed at making him look like a murderer.

He also said that Kandy District had been largely peaceful during the elections in contrast to reports by independent election monitoring groups which said it was one of the most troubled areas.