February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
The three Irishmen, facing charges of aiding the revolutionary FARC guerrillas, never turned up.
Their spokeswoman, Caitriona Ruane, said the three, accused of traveling on false passports and assisting the FARC upgrade its bomb making techniques, were “too afraid” for their safety to attend the hearing.
Outside the courthouse were two dozen protesters with signs reading “Ireland keep your killers at home” and “IRA Kill Your Own People.”
The three men, held since August 2001 in the La Picota prison on the southern outskirts of Bogota, met with their lawyers and Barry McElduff, Sinn Fein West Tyrone MLA, on the eve of the trial.
One of the scenarios gone over with their advisors included refusal to attend the trial. That, as it turned out, was the decision taken.
The riot squad was called, and the three ended up with minor scratches and bruises from the attempts of police to remove the men from their cells.
The trial is due to resume next week. The men told their supporters they have not decided on whether to participate.
It is now expected that in a few months, during the public phase of the trial, the three’s lawyers will put an Irish diplomat on the stand and a Sinn Fein representative who will testify that they were with one of the three, Niall Connolly, at a “personal” function in Cuba when the Colombian authorities allege Connolly was in the former FARC zone training rebels.
The defense will also call into question the forensic results obtained by the U.S. State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service personnel at the U.S. Embassy in Bogota.
The U.S. officers were asked to conduct the test by the Colombian military after the three men were caught at El Dorado Airport coming from the FARC zone.
Prosecutors allege that the tests found traces of explosives in the luggage of the three men.
Finally, the attorneys will present a “psychological” defense. Their spokeswoman said they would bring witnesses to the hearings who would describe why the three men, veterans of the republican cause, would want to see another peace process up close.
“That’s really why they were there,” Ruane said before leaving Bogota last Saturday.