Colombia Three witness refuses to testify

One of the star witnesses in the case against three Irishmen accused of training Colombian rebels in terrorist techniques refused to testify today because he said he feared for his life.

Edwin Giovanny Rodriguez, a jailed member of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, appeared in the Bogota court in a bullet-proof vest surrounded by almost a dozen armed guards.

He said he would not testify unless he and his son were put in a witness protection programme. The judge ordered both be placed under protection and said he could testify on Friday.

The refusal of Rodriguez to testify was the latest delay in the case, which has dragged on for a 18 months.

James Monaghan, Niall Connolly and Martin McCauley were arrested in August 2001 at Bogota’s airport after visiting a FARC stronghold where prosecutors say they trained insurgents in explosives and other techniques.

In December, Rodriguez failed to testify because prosecutors said it was too dangerous to bring him by road from a jail in the town of Villavicencio a two hours’ drive from Bogota. Arrangements were made to fly him in for Wednesday’s hearing.

Prosecutors continued with their case today, putting the army captain who arrested the three men on the stand.

Captain Huber Pulido said an anonymous informant began calling him in May 2001, saying there were was a group of foreigners, possibly Irishmen, staying in the rebel strong hold and training the rebels there.

The calls continued, until August, 2001, when the caller, who was never identified, said the men were headed to Bogota, where Pulido arrested them.

It was still unclear today if one of the other key witnesses would testify.

Despite participating in a government rehabilitation programme, John Alexander Rodriguez could not be found in December.

He was located in January, and the judge authorised the witness to give his testimony in Medellin, Colombia’s second-largest city, to save the cost of the flight – usually less than £100, according to Jose Luis Velasco, McCauley’s lawyer.

Defence lawyers have appealed that ruling and were expecting a response from the judge today.

John Alexander Rodriguez is expected to testify that he met the suspects in 1999 inside the rebel safe haven and that the three men brought rocket launchers with them to sell to the FARC, according to local media reports.

Since the suspects are not charged with arms trafficking, it was unclear how prosecutors intended to use that testimony.

The police officer who arrested the three men in August 2001 and a Colombian anti-terrorist expert who was expected to provide testimony comparing IRA methods with those used by Colombia’s primary rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, were both expected to testify today.

A Colombian army major testified in December that the nation’s largest rebel group had received sophisticated technology in the past few years that only could have been obtained from abroad.

Yet the trial was suspended after prosecutors failed to produce the rest of their witnesses.

The three suspects, who were travelling on false passports, insist they were in Colombia to observe the peace process between former President Andres Pastrana and the FARC.

Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams has acknowledged Connolly was the Latin American representative for the party.

Monaghan is an IRA veteran who was convicted in 1971 for possessing explosives and conspiring to cause explosions. McCauley was wounded during a police ambush at an IRA arms dump in 1982 and was later convicted of weapons possession.

This segment of the trial, which the three men are not expected to attend, is scheduled to last until Friday.