A court in Germany has given four Tamils suspended sentences after they confessed to fundraising for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) this week.
The Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court imposed sentences of between one year and one year and nine months on the four Tamil men.
According to Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, the court took “into account that they had to flee their homeland due to violence and oppression by the Sinhalese majority of the population and that they lost relatives and friends to anti-Tamil pogroms”.
The four Tamils, aged between 46 to 69-years-old confessed to fundraising for the LTTE between 2007 and 2009, when the Sri Lankan army had launched a massive military offensive across the Tamil homeland. Tens of thousands of Tamil civilians were slaughtered at the time.
The International Human Rights Association Bremen criticised the court’s decision to prosecute the men.
Germany has taken steps to prosecute Tamils for alleged war crimes or links to the LTTE, and deported dozens of Tamils to Sri Lanka despite the risk of torture.
To date, it has taken no action against any Sri Lankan government or military officials accused of war crimes and genocide that are residing in the country.
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See more from Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung here.
See more on Germany's prosecution attempts and deportation of Tamils below.
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