Three LTTE activists to stand trial in Australian SC

A Magistrate’s Court in Melbourne committed three Australians of Sri Lankan Tamil origin to stand trial in the Supreme Court of Australia last afternoon for engaging in terrorism related offences in Australia.

Aruran Vinayagamoorthy, Sivarajah Yathavan and Arumugam Rajeevan were charged by the Director of Public Prosecutions for having committed three offences under the Criminal Code Act, and the Charter of the United Nations Act of Australia for having been members of the LTTE which is a terrorist organisation, providing funds and material support to the LTTE and making available assets collected in Australia to the LTTE.

The committal followed a preliminary hearing in Australia against the three defendants based on a case investigated into by the Anti-Terrorism Task Force of the Australian Federal Police (AFP), states a Foreign Ministry press release.

In addition to Australian Police Officers, several Sri Lankan legal, military, naval and police senior officers testified in the case against the LTTE activists.

The committal signals a clear acceptance of the view by the Magistrate that the LTTE is an international terrorist organization threatening the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Sri Lanka. Previously the Ministry of Foreign Affairs facilitated the AFP to conduct investigations in Sri Lanka and collect evidence.

The judicial finding by the Melbourne Magistrate lends support to the Government of Sri Lanka’s request to the Australian Government to proscribe the LTTE and its front organizations.

The trial against the three LTTE activists will commence in 2008/9 in the Supreme Court of Victoria.