Chennai: A special court in Tamil Nadu on Friday (July 5) found Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) general secretary Vaiko guilty in a sedition case. Vaiko has been sentenced to one year in prison and has to pay a fine of Rs 10,000 in the sedition case.

The special court judge J Shanthi sentenced the veteran Tamil Nadu politician Vaiko. Later, Vaiko got one-month temporary relief from arrest after appealing against the verdict. 

Meanwhile, Vaiko's lawyer has approached the court to suspend the sentence under CrPC 389, that allows suspension of sentence pending an appeal by a convicted person.

The case began in 2009, for Vaiko's speech in 2009 during a book launch event. During the book launch, he spoke on the topic ‘Eezhathil nadappathenna’ (what is happening in Eelam).

In his speech, he had warned that India will not remain a single, unified country, if the war against LTTE in Sri Lanka was not stopped.

Meanwhile, on July 2, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) ally MDMK had named Vaiko as its candidate from Tamil Nadu for the July 18 Rajya Sabha polls.

A high-level MDMK meet in Chennai decided to nominate its chief Vaiko for the lone seat allotted to it by the DMK as part of a pre-poll agreement. A resolution in this regard was adopted in the meet.

The 75-year old leader is a staunch supporter of the cause of Tamils in Sri Lanka and had been a DMK Rajya Sabha member from 1978 to 1996.