LTTE Supporters Released

13 Sri Lankan LTTE supporters were charged with financing the terror outfit by extortion, fraud and other illegal means in Swiss Court.

The Swiss Federal Criminal Court said accusations of participation in and supporting of a criminal organization did not stand and released all of the accused. In its judgment, the court noted that the hierarchical link between the LTTE and WTCC was not sufficiently established. The judges also felt there was not enough concrete proof to consider the LTTE as a criminal organization. While the federal prosecutor had asked for prison terms of between 18 months and six years for the accused, the court did not oblige.

The accused are from Switzerland, Germany, and Sri Lanka.

Some are former members of the World Tamil Coordinating Committee, which represented the LTTE in Switzerland until 2009, and include its founder, his deputy and the person in charge of finances.