Five Sri Lankans in Oslo sentenced over sword attack

Five Sri Lankans who were involved in a terrifying attack in Norway using Samurai swords were sentenced on Thursday to between 11 and 14 years, a Norwegian news website reported. They were found guilty at the Oslo Court following the attempted murder of a 20-year-old man Mr.Ramanan Vivekananthan on Kalbakken in Oslo in August 2007.

During the attack attempts were made to behead the victim. The gang involved in the attack, which consisted of around 10 men, traveled from France and Germany to the Kalbakken area in Oslo, specifically to attack Ramanan armed with samurai swords, guns and other weapons.

While five were found guilty of murder charges another five were convicted for bodily harm under particularly aggravating circumstances.

The incident was a culmination of an almost two-year-old conflict between two rival gangs in the Tamil community in Oslo.

The Court's ruling states that "the murder was carried out in a brutal and ruthless way, the more the community, and by the use of particularly dangerous weapons, and against a 19-year-old boy who was killed on the ground."