Trio doing time in Ireland ‘impossible’
Under the plan, Colombia would be required to sign up to a European Council Convention on the transfer of prisoners and be accepted by Ireland as an acceptable country from a human rights point of view.
But Irish Council for Civil Liberties director Ashling Reidy said she “very much doubted” the move would prove feasible given that Irish legislation to ratify parts of the convention had not even been passed yet.
“I fail to see how they could retrospectively apply legislation which isn’t even on the books now,” Ms Reidy said
Ms Reidy joined a growing chorus of legal opinion discounting the possibility of an extradition to Colombia taking place, saying the circumstances surrounding the men’s conviction in Bogota would be near impossible to justify from an Irish legal perspective.
Nevertheless, Tánaiste Mary Harney continued to call yesterday for the three fugitives to give themselves up and she challenged Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams to help locate them.
“I’ve heard them say they’re not on the run. Those who know where they are, including Mr Adams I’m sure, should cooperate,” Ms Harney said.
“The gardaí are using every avenue open to them to establish where these men are, that is my understanding.
“I don’t see why they wouldn’t go to their local garda station.”
Although it still remains unclear what crime, if any, the three can be charged with here, Ms Harney again said they could face charges in Irish courts.
Colombian vice-president Francisco Santos Calderon said the proposal to imprison the men in Irish jails hit the right “tone”, but he still called for extradition.
“This is where they caused the pain ... this is where they left us with a problem in which many, many Colombians have been killed, where the use of explosives has been developed immensely ... due to their technique and expertise and this is where they should pay their sentence,” he told RTÉ.
Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny welcomed the possibility of the Colombia Three serving their sentence here, but called on Mr Ahern to “confirm his support for the idea” since he appeared to be taking a “softer line” on the issue than Ms Harney.
