5 Dutch Tamils on trial, accused of funding Tigers
Source: boston
THE HAGUE, Netherlands—Five Sri Lankans accused of
supporting the Tamil Tiger rebels in their country's 26-year civil war
went on trial in a Dutch court Thursday, in a case that hinges on
whether judges rule that the Tigers were legitimate freedom fighters or
terrorists.
Prosecutors accuse the men -- all
ethnic Tamils who live in the Netherlands -- of illegally funding the
group, which has been branded a terrorist group by the European Union,
and membership of an international terror organization.
But
a lawyer for two of the suspects said the men were just collecting
money for Tamil victims of the bloody conflict and rejected the
assertion that the Tamil Tigers, formally known as the Liberation Tigers
of Tamil Eelam or LTTE, is a terror group.
Instead,
he drew comparisons with Libyan fighters who battled to oust Moammar
Gadhafi and received support from the international community.
"There
has not been any proper legal debate about whether the LTTE is a
terrorist organization or whether they are a group such as the Libyan
rebels now," defense attorney Victor Koppe said outside court.
Thursday's
hearing opened with a judge reading out transcripts of interviews with
witnesses while the five suspects sat listening through headsets to
simultaneous translations.
Prosecutors
and defense attorneys are expected to lay out their cases later this
month and a verdict is likely toward the end of October.
Koppe
said if the three-judge panel at the Hague District Court rejects the
terror label, "then the whole case falls apart. Then what you have is
legitimate support to freedom fighters. Exactly like everybody now is
supporting the Libyan rebels."
The
Sri Lanka war ended in May 2009 when government troops crushed the
rebels and killed their leader Velupillai Prabhakaran. The rebels had
been fighting to create an independent state for ethnic minority Tamils.
Hundreds
of thousands of Sri Lankans fled to Britain, other European countries
and neighboring India during the civil war. Rights groups have accused
both sides in the conflict of possible war crimes.
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