Opinion ID: 2650623
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Pratheepan's Personal History

Text: Pratheepan was born on November 7, 1974 in a Tamil neighborhood in Sri Lanka. He was raised during a time of civil war and was regularly subjected to violence, bombings, and intimidation as a result of the conflict between the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE. He attended high school in 2 The Government refers to defendant as Thavaraja, but it appears that his surname is Pratheepan, as both defense counsel and the district court referred to him below as Mr. Pratheepan. Hence, we refer to him as Pratheepan. -5- his hometown until he was 14-years old, when his school was destroyed. He and his family were frequently forced to flee their homes to refugee camps during military attacks. At one point he returned to his village to find that dozens of people -- including friends and acquaintances -- had been killed and that many buildings had been destroyed. At 21-years old, Pratheepan moved to England, where he was granted political refugee status. He attended school and earned a bachelor's degree in engineering, a certification in English proficiency, and a teacher's certificate. He was employed as a college lecturer in Mansfield, England from 2000 to 2002. In 2002, after seven years in England as a political refugee, Pratheepan returned to his parents' home in Sri Lanka. He was in Jakarta, Indonesia when he was arrested based on the charges in this case. While incarcerated at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, Pratheepan worked in the Education Department teaching math and other subjects to inmates. In advance of sentencing, inmates who were students of Pratheepan wrote to the district court expressing their gratitude for his assistance. -6- Pratheepan has no prior criminal convictions. As a citizen of Sri Lanka who was extradited to this country, he faces likely deportation upon the completion of his sentence.