The Hindu : International : Colombia clears IRA suspects

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Apr 28, 2004

International

International

Colombia clears IRA suspects

BOGOTA, APRIL 27. Three alleged IRA members who have spent more than two and a half years in prison have been cleared of charges that they had trained leftist Colombian guerillas.

But James Monaghan, Martin McCauley and Niall Connolly were convicted on the lesser charge of travelling with false passports. They were sentenced to jail terms varying from 44 to 26 months, but the judge ordered their release upon payment of fines equivalent to £3,800.

Judge Jairo Acosta also ordered that they be expelled from Colombia, though an appeal from the prosecutors could delay their departure.

The three men were detained at Bogota airport on August 11, 2001 as they prepared to leave Colombia after spending five weeks in a government-sanctioned rebel enclave in southern Colombia. They were charged with training Colombia's largest rebel army, known as FARC, in new explosives techniques and with travelling on false passports.

Mr. Monaghan is a veteran of the IRA who was convicted in 1971 for possessing explosives and conspiring to cause explosions. Mr. McCauley was convicted in 1985 for possession of weapons. Mr. Connolly was a representative in Cuba of Sinn Fein. The prosecution had alleged that the three were active IRA members who had been in Colombia on several occasions, meeting FARC and training troops in bomb-making and urban guerilla tactics. - Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004.

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