Aussie lets LTTE funding trio walk free
March 31, 2010 10:24 am
Three Australian men have walked free from court after pleading guilty to funding the Sri Lankan terrorist group the LTTE. Aruran Vinayagamoorthy, 35, Sivarajah Yathavan, 39, and Arumugum Rajeevan, 44, pleaded guilty to providing $1 million to the Tamil Tigers between 2002 and 2005.
Vinayagamoorthy also pleaded guilty to providing electronic equipment,
including radio transmitters, used in bomb attacks in
It is a federal offence under the United Nations Act to provide funds to a recognised terrorist organisation.
The Tamil Tigers are recognised as a terrorist organisation overseas but not
in
Justice Paul Coghlan accepted that each were connected with Tamil Tigers and
knew the group had a reputation of being a terrorist organisation. But he told
the court the men were motivated to assist the Tamil community in the north of
He sentenced Vinayagamoorthy to two years’ jail but released him on a good behaviour bond for four years.
Yathavan and Rajeevan were sentenced to one year in jail and released on a good behaviour bond for three years.
Last year, Justice Coghlan criticised the Australian Federal Police’s 2007 arrest of Rajeevan, describing his treatment as “frightfully heavy handed” and of questionable legality.
During pre-trial arguments, the Supreme Court was told Rajeevan was arrested at gunpoint and was refused access to a lawyer during a five-hour interrogation.
Terrorism charges against all three men were later withdrawn by prosecutors and replaced with the lesser charges of funding the separatist group.
Source: ABC