Aussie men plead guilty to funding LTTE

Melbourne, Dec 24(ANI): Three Australian men of Sri Lankan origin have reportedly pleaded guilty to providing money to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

The three men, Aruran Vinayagamoorthy and Sivarajah Yathavan from Melbourne, and Arumugam Rajeevan from New South Wales appeared at the Victorian Supreme Court via video link from Sydney, and pleaded guilty to an offence against the United Nations Charter Act, News.com.au reported.

The three men will be sentenced on February 2 on charges related to providing money to the Tamil Tigers, which the United Nations considers a terrorist organization.

The men were arrested in May 2007 and charged with the offences, which occurred between December 2002 and March 2006.

Founded in May 1976, the LTTE waged a violent secessionist campaign that sought to create an independent Tamil state in the north and east of Sri Lanka.

The campaign evolved into the Sri Lankan Civil War, which was one of the longest running armed conflicts in Asia until the Sri Lankan Military defeated the LTTE in May 2009. (ANI)