Colombia-IRA trial verdict due at end of year

The judge deciding the fate of three IRA-linked men accused of training Colombian rebels in terrorist tactics has said he cannot make a ruling in the case until the end of the year – or even the beginning of 2004.

Speaking from behind a high stack of papers in his office in a Bogotá courthouse, Judge Jairo Acosta said his overwhelming caseload made it “physically impossible” for him to issue a verdict within the recommended 15 working days after the trial ended on August 1.

“The 15-day rule only applies when it’s possible,” judge Acosta told The Associated Press. “But there are still between 40 and 45 cases that I need to rule on before this one. Not to mention that I have at least one or two hearings a day on current cases.

“It is physically impossible to fulfil that requirement.”

Judge Acosta is one of nine judges in Bogotá who specialise in terrorism, kidnapping and drug trafficking cases. He said he usually issues between three to 10 verdicts a month, making a ruling on this case highly unlikely before December.

James Monaghan, Martin McCauley and Niall Connolly were arrested in Bogotá's airport in August 2001 after they flew out of a sanctuary of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, (Farc) in the steamy jungles and pasturelands of southern Colombia.

During their trial, which stretched for nine months, the defendants were portrayed by prosecutors as evil men who trained the rebels in explosives and terrorist tactics. But defence insisted that their clients only wanted to observe Colombia’s now defunct peace process. The Farc lost their safe haven when peace talks with the government collapsed in February 2002.

The men are charged with training terrorists as well as falsification of identity for travelling to Colombia on false passports.

The terrorism charges carry between eight and 14 years in prison, and the false identity between two and eight. If found guilty on both charges, the men could face up to 22 years in prison, Judge Acosta said.

Monaghan is an IRA veteran who was convicted in 1971 for possessing explosives and conspiring to cause explosions.

Connolly lived in Cuba for several years, where he served as the Latin American representative for Sinn Féin.

McCauley was wounded during a police ambush at an IRA arms dump in 1982 and was later convicted of weapons possession.