Colombian judge orders probe after adjournment

The trial of three Irishmen accused of being IRA activists who trained Colombian rebels was postponed today after they refused to leave their prison cells.

Protesters screamed “Killers!” as defence lawyers entered a Bogota court where a judge had been expected to rule if there was enough evidence to send them for trial.

But the men – James Monaghan, Niall Connolly and Martin McCauley – refused to be moved from their prison cells, saying they feared for their safety, a prison spokeswoman said.

The judge postponed the hearing until October 16 to investigate allegations guards hit the trio in an effort to force them from their cells, said Agustin Jimenez, a spokesman for the defence lawyers.

The prison spokeswoman denied the men were beaten. The men were not required to attend the hearing, in which the judge had been expected to rule on evidence and set a date for a public hearing.

Prosecutors have charged that the three men used fake passports to enter Colombia. Once in, they trained the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, in terrorist tactics and explosives, prosecutors asserted. If convicted, each faces between 15 to 20 years in prison.

Defence lawyers claimed that the Colombian government had trumped up the charges and that it was using the case to get more counter-terrorism aid and money from the United States.

They said the case is based on flimsy evidence and full of procedural errors. They noted that the three men were arrested by military officials, even though the army doesn’t have the power to make arrests.