The accused received support from some sections of the Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora in Switzerland.
Keystone
The Swiss Federal Criminal Court has given no prison terms to alleged financiers of the Sri Lankan Tamil separatist group Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam (LTTE). The 13 accused were either given suspended custodial sentences or acquitted.
This content was published on
4 minutes
SDA-ATS/ds
The court on Thursday said accusations of participation in and support of a criminal organisation did not stand and released all of the accused.
It noted that the hierarchical link between the LTTE and WTCC was not sufficiently established. The judges also felt there was not enough concrete proof to consider the LTTE as a criminal organisation.
While the federal prosecutor Juliette Noto had asked for prison terms of between 18 months and six years for the accused, the court did not oblige. Eight of the thirteen on the docks were acquitted of all charges.
The others were only found guilty of fraud. WTCC’s finance manager and one of the accused who arranged loans from Bank Now (owned by Credit Suisse) on false pretences got a 24-month suspended sentence. The president of WTCC got 21 months while the finance manager’s deputy got 20 months in suspended sentences.
The whole process is estimated to have cost close to CHF4 million (4.03 million) which the federal government will have to bear. In addition to this amount, compensation for those acquitted, as well as lawyers’ fees total to almost CHF5 million. The accused will have to pay part of their lawyers’ expenses provided they have the financial means to do so.
During the eight-week trial, which opened in January and closed in March, the federal prosecutor requested sentences of up to six-and-a-half years in prison. The proceedings cost CHF3.8 million ($3.85 million).
The 13 defendants – 12 Tamils or Swiss citizens of Tamil origin plus one German – were accused of participating in or supporting a criminal organisation, fraud, forgery, money laundering and extortion.
During her indictment, Juliette Noto, a federal prosecutor, described a sophisticated system used by the WTCC to raise funds largely for armed struggle from the Tamil community in Switzerland. The Tamil community in Switzerland was systematically registered and its ability to pay assessed. Families who refused to pay were threatened, she said.
Noto cast the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam (LTTE), who are represented in Switzerland by the WTCC, as a violent movement “whose effectiveness inspired Al-Qaeda”. Showing a picture of the WTCC leader behind a machine gun and images of child soldiers, she enumerated the attacks and crimes attributed to the Tamil Tigers. The prosecutor sought to demonstrate the informed involvement of the accused in supporting and funding the LTTE.
Legitimate combat
In their pleadings, the defence invoked the legitimacy of the Tigers’ struggle against the Sri Lankan government’s repression of the Tamil minority. They argued that the money collected in Switzerland by the accused for the WTCC was mainly used for humanitarian purposes. The defence also challenged the prosecution of the accused at a time when Tiger resistance was collapsing in Sri Lanka.
During the hearings, the accused spoke at length about the repression suffered in Sri Lanka and the atrocities committed by the security forces. They kept silent when asked about their specific involvement.
The Tamil Tigers fought the Sri Lankan government from 1983 until its defeat in 2009. The movement claimed independence from northern Ceylon, populated mostly by Tamils. This conflict caused the death of some 100,000 people.
As a Swiss Abroad, how do you feel about the emergence of more conservative family policies in some US states?
In recent years several US states have adopted more conservative policies on family issues, abortion and education. As a Swiss citizen living there, how do you view this development?
Swiss food giant Nestlé to invest millions in Nescafé in Spain
This content was published on
The Swiss multinational is to invest €15 million (CHF14.3 million) in its Nescafé factory, which produces instant coffee and Nescafé Dolce Gusto capsules, in Girona near Barcelona.
This content was published on
Malfunctions led to a worldwide outage of the social media platform X several times on Monday, affecting users in Switzerland and elsewhere.
This content was published on
The Swiss bank UBS was fined €75,000 (CHF71,410), the maximum penalty, in Paris on Monday for moral harassment by its French subsidiary of two whistleblowers.
Nearly 50 wolves killed in eastern Switzerland over five-month period
This content was published on
Wildlife wardens in the eastern canton of Graubünden, together with hunters, shot 48 wolves between September 2024 and January 2025, authorities said on Monday.
Top Swiss court approves appeal against asbestos ruling
This content was published on
The Glarus high court must re-examine an asbestos case, after the Federal Court approved the request for a revision of its decision by the family of Marcel Jann.
Swiss singer Zoë Më unveils song ‘Voyage’ for 2025 Eurovision contest
This content was published on
Singer-songwriter Zoë Më, who will represent Switzerland at the Eurovision Song Contest 2025 in Basel, unveiled her ballad Voyage on Monday.
Switzerland’s image at stake in current multilateralism crisis, says Geneva politician
This content was published on
The Swiss government's reaction to the current crisis in multilateralism is not congruent with what is at stake for International Geneva, says the head of the Geneva Government.
This content was published on
At the stroke of 4am on Monday, the street lights went out in Basel's city center for the carnival kick-off, known as Morgenstreich.
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.
Read more
More
Trial of Tamil Tiger financiers begins in Switzerland
This content was published on
The accused are from Switzerland, Germany and Sri Lanka. Some are former members of the World Tamil Coordinating Committee (WTCC), which represented the LTTE in Switzerland until 2009, and include its founder, his deputy and the person in charge of finances. Between 1999 and 2009, they allegedly created a complex fundraising structure which involved coaxing…
This content was published on
The eight-week Swiss trial of 13 financiers accused of funnelling money to the Sri Lankan Tamil separatist group LTTE has cost CHF3.79 million.
This content was published on
It’s Friday and Mala Jayakumar is busy making preparations for the weekly ceremonial worship of the Saivanerikoodam Hindu temple’s principal deity Shiva. Few outsiders know about the colourful temple hidden behind the glass façade of the very modern-looking House of ReligionsExternal link in Bern. In a few hours, the local Hindu community will gather to…
This content was published on
“Today we acknowledge that considerable progress has been made in the area of human rights, for example in the freedom of expression and assembly,” the State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) said in a statement on Thursday. “Therefore, more restrictive conditions now apply for recognising the refugee status of journalists, human rights activists and opposition politicians.”…
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.