March 7, 2009
Issue
Commonwealth prosecutors have dropped nine of the charges against three Tamil men, Aruran Vinayagamoorthy, Sivarajah Yathavan and Arumugam Rajeevan.
They were accused of belonging to, and assisting, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, a group fighting for self-determination for the oppressed Tamil people of Sri Lanka. Since the LTTE is not on Australia's list of designated "terrorist" organisations, the prosecution would have had to provide evidence in court to prove that it is terrorist. This attempt has now been abandoned.
The men will still be charged with providing money to the LTTE, which is on a UN list of proscribed organisations. They could still face jail sentences of up to five years/