Court Day

BERLIN, February 7, 2011 (AFP) - German federal prosecutors said Monday they had charged a man suspected of raising money for the separatist Sri Lankan rebel group Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).



The accused, a 35-year-old German citizen named only as Agilan W., was charged with belonging to a foreign terrorist organisation, prosecutors said in a statement.

"Between March 2004 and December 2007, he secured more than 370,000 euros (around 500,000 dollars) in objects for military use and arranged their transport to Sri Lanka," the statement said.

W. was arrested on November 3, 2010 in the western city of Duesseldorf and officially charged on January 24. He is currently in custody.

Sri Lankan troops wiped out the LTTE in May 2010 following a no-holds-barred military offensive.

The Tigers' defeat ended nearly 40 years of separatist conflict in Sri Lanka, but at the cost of the lives of thousands of civilians in the final onslaught, say rights groups.