Colombo: Leading international human rights groups are gathering evidence against detained LTTE breakaway faction leader Karuna Amman, seeking to ensure that he be tried for war crimes.

Karuna was arrested in London last Friday for allegedly travelling on a forged passport.

The groups, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International are in the process of assembling evidence to see whether they can trigger a prosecution of the former Tamil Tiger leader, media reported here today.

Karuna reportedly went on a self-imposed exile to London following an internal rift in his Tamileela Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP) outfit.

The militant dissident leader formed the TMVP after breaking away from LTTE supremo V Prabhakaran in March 2004.

The ceasefire monitors in Sri Lanka, in their regular weekly reports, continued to claim details of the intimidation tactics by the Karuna faction against civilians and their political opponents in the east of the island nation, the Bottom Line Newspaper said.

According to reports, Amnesty, HRW and the Coalition to stop the use of child soldiers are all investigating the possibility of initiating an official investigation into Karuna's activities, it said.

For the time being, the TMVP is reportedly under the command of Pullaian, an expert fighter from eastern Sri Lanka. 

Source : PTI