February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
The move will raise hopes that the three Irishmen will be allowed return to Ireland as part of a deal agreed by the Irish and Colombian governments.
The three men, once hopeful that the Colombian judicial system was free of government influence, are now hoping that the work of governments will in fact secure their release.
The Colombian government has agreed in principle to a proposal from Taoiseach Bertie Ahern that would permit the three Irishmen to return to Ireland, even as their acquittal on serious terrorist charges is appealed by Colombia’s attorney general.
Niall Connolly, Martin McCauley and James Monaghan were acquitted in late April of aiding the FARC guerrilla group but were found guilty of entering Colombia with false passports.
Colombia’s vice president, Francisco Santos, said last week that his government had agreed that the men could leave for Ireland. But such a move would depend on the approval of the three magistrates currently considering the attorney general’s appeal.
“This is a decision that will be made by the court. There is a separation of powers,” Santos said.
This position has provoked fears among supporters of the three men that the magistrates could take some time in reaching a decision in the matter.
It took over two years to bring the men to trial after their arrest in august, 2001.
An Irish government source said that it was now a matter of waiting for the magistrates to “sign off” on the agreement.
The Irish government was hopeful that a decision would come “sooner rather than later.”
However, there is also the question as to whether it will be legally possible for the magistrates to agree to a deal worked out at the political level.
The move from the prison will be seen as a positive development in this regard.
The deal intended to secure the release of the men was reached last month when Ahern met with Colombian president Alvaro Uribe during a visit by both leaders to Mexico.
Ahern proposed that the three Irishmen be required to meet terms of bail should they be sent back to Ireland during a continued appeal process. This would mean that the three would be required to report on a regular basis to the Garda. Ahern also indicated the Irish government’s hope that the attorney general’s appeal be reviewed.
However, if the men were allowed return to Ireland and the acquittal was later overturned, the three would have to return to Colombia.
The three were being held until this week in Bogota’s Modelo prison, a facility that once housed some of Colombia’s most notorious drug lords.
The three could have secured bail earlier. But the view of supporters was that the three were actually safer in the prison.
Connolly, McCauley and Monaghan were visited by a delegation last week that included Sinn F