2 Sri Lankans, 2 others sentenced in St. Maarten for trying to smuggle migrants to US isles
By APTuesday, September 22, 2009
4 sentenced for human smuggling from St. Maarten
PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten — Four men have been sentenced to prison terms ranging up to 2½ years for organizing a doomed sea voyage from St. Maarten that left 10 illegal migrants missing, officials said Tuesday.
The defendants — two Sri Lankans and two residents of St. Kitts who were convicted last week — were arrested earlier this year after a boat trying to transport migrants to the U.S. Virgin Islands capsized off the British Virgin Islands’ capital, Tortola.
The flimsy boat was packed with about 23 migrants, mostly Haitians, when it smashed into a reef in January. Three children, two women and five men could not be found and are presumed dead. A passing fishing boat rescued 13 migrants.
A Sri Lankan described as the ringleader, Sribaskaran Sivanantham, was sentenced Monday to 2½ years in prison — the strictest punishment. Prosecutor Manon Ridderbeks had sought a seven-year sentence.
His lawyer, Thijs Leijsen, claimed Sivanantham organized the trafficking ring to help Tamils, an ethnic minority in Sri Lanka who suffered during a 26-year civil war that ended in May. But Judge Monique Keppels found that Sivanantham sought to make a profit, filling the boat with Haitian and Sri Lankan migrants.
A St. Kitts man also was sentenced to 2½ years in prison. Another defendant received a 13-month sentence, with five months suspended and two years of probation, and the fourth was sentenced to 6 months.
Thousands of Haitians take to the sea on flimsy boats each year, heading toward the United States or other Caribbean countries hoping to escape grinding poverty in the Western Hemisphere’s poorest country.
