KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 31 (NNN-BERNAMA) — Five Malaysian men were again charged in the Sessions Court here today for their alleged links to the defunct LTTE ( Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) militant group.
They were a chief executive officer of a corporation, S. Chandru, 38, technician S. Arivainthan, 27, storekeeper S.Thanagaraj, 26, security guard M.Pumugan, 29, and a national secondary school teacher in Telok Panglima Garang, Selangor, Sundram Renggan @ Rengasamy, 52.
They were all charged with giving support to the LTTE terrorist group by using their respective Facebook account under the names of “Ariventhan Subramaniam”, “Tamilarasan Sivam”, Pumagan Tamilan” ,”Chandru Suparmaniam” and “Elilan Elilan”
They were each charged with committing the offences at the Office of E8(M) Investigating Officer of the Special Branch Bukit Aman, here at 9 am and 3 pm, between Jan 11 and Oct 11 this year.
The charge under Section 130J(1)(a) of the Penal Code provides for a life sentence or a maximum of 30 years or fine and forfeiture of any asset used or intended to be used to commit the offences, upon conviction.
All of them nodded to show that they understood after the charges against them were read separately before Justice Azman Ahmad.
The pleas from all the accused were not recorded as they were detained under the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (SOSMA) and cases under SOSMA are tried at the High Court.
Their pleas will be recorded at the High Court later.
On Oct 29, all the five accused were charged at the Sessions Court in several states on charges of giving support and possessing items related to the group.
Prosecution was handled by Deputy Public Prosecutor Muhamad Iskandar Ahmad while lawyers Ramkarpal Singh, Gan Chen Kiong, Damian Yeo and R.S.N Rayer represented the accused.
–NNN-BERNAMA