No ‘LTTE stamps’ in France - French embassy

The French embassy in response to a series of media reports over the issuance of stamps bearing the picture of LTTE leader and Tiger emblem in France yesterday said that no such stamp is part of the official philatelist programme and neither on sale in French post offices. The media communique issued by the French embassy in Colombo states:

Following reports published in different newspapers regarding the issuance in France of stamps bearing pictures and symbols of the LTTE, the embassy of France in Sri Lanka wishes to inform the media and the Sri Lankan public that no such stamp is part of the official philatelist programme of France, neither on sale in the French post offices.

The French Postal services, “La Poste”, offers an online service through which customers can order limited quantities of personalized stamps under their responsibility and under specific conditions. It appears that individuals have used this service to order the above mentioned stamps. “La Poste” recognized that they failed to detect that the conditions had not been met and that some of these stamps have been printed by mistake.

Having been informed by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs that LTTE is a movement which has been listed since 2006 as a terrorist organization by the European Union, “La Poste” assures that no such stamp will be printed further.

Since 1991, le “Groupe La Poste”, of which French postal services are a part, is an independent public, industrial and commercial institution.