The Colombian government was today urged to stop playing with the lives of three Irishmen acquitted this week of training Marxist rebels.

The Government is being asked to use its presidency of the EU as an opportunity to ensure three Irishmen being held in Colombia are returned home.

Supporters of the Columbia three are holding a protest outside the Department of Foreign Affairs in Dublin later today.

The Bring them Home Campaign is outraged at how prison authorities responded yesterday in Columbia when three Irish men refused to appear in court for the first day of their trial.

Three Irishmen detained for the last six months by the authorities in Colombia on suspicion of training left wing rebels are being denied a fair trial, their supporters claimed tonight.