Five members of the Tamil Tigers, believed to be the terrorist organisation’s leaders in the Nederlands have been given sentences ranging from 10 to 16 years by the the Public Prosecution Service (OM) in The Hague.
The five men, identified as leaders of the Tamil Tigers in the Netherlands by the prosecution, were active members of the LTTE from 2003 to 2010, Nederland’s Blik op Nieuws reported.
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) was included on the list of terrorist organizations by the European Union in 2006.
The suspects had reportedly organized meetings in the Netherlands in which they glorified the violence used by the Tamil Tigers and thereby made propaganda for the armed struggle in Sri Lanka.
It is vital that Dutch Tamil youth can grow without being brainwashed from birth to think that the ruthless violence of the Tamil Tigers is normal and should be supported, said the Prosecutor.
Tamils living in the Netherlands were put under pressure and threatened to pay money. Of the money collected, the Tamil Tigers bought weapons and explosives. “People who have fled from their own country to live in freedom in the Netherlands cannot experience that freedom because they were forced by their own countrymen to pay,” said the Prosecutor.
According to the OM one of the five men held the international accounts of the Tamil Tigers in Nederlands while the money was brought to Sri Lanka by cash couriers of the organization.
When sentencing takes into account the seriousness of the offenses and the circumstances in which the offense was committed, the defendants also caused great suffering to the public in Sri Lanka and not only in the Netherlands.
“The suspects who lived in the Netherlands, have had the choice to strike a different path. A way of nonviolent protest against the abuses in Sri Lanka. That they have chosen to support the violent conflict, the suspects and blamed,” said the Prosecutor.
The court sentenced the defendants to prison terms from two to six years. Both the accused and the prosecution appealed against the ruling.
