COLOMBIA: AUTHORITES FORMALLY CHARGE THREE SUSPECTED IRA MEMBERS WITH ALLEGEDLY TRAINING MARXIST FARC REBELS AND CARRYING FALSE PASSPORTS

Record ID: 638910

  • Title: COLOMBIA: AUTHORITES FORMALLY CHARGE THREE SUSPECTED IRA MEMBERS WITH ALLEGEDLY TRAINING MARXIST FARC REBELS AND CARRYING FALSE PASSPORTS
  • Date: 21st August 2001
  • Summary: BOGOTA, COLOMBIA (AUGUST 21, 2001) (REUTERS) MV: SPOKESPERSON FOR PUBLIC PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE, CAROLINA SANCHEZ, ENTERING NEWS CONFERENCE SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) SANCHEZ SAYING: "(The Public Prosecutor of the Nation) has in custody, consistent in preventive detention without benefit of release from prison (parole), Martin John McCauley, James William Monaghan, and Dav
  • Embargoed: 5th September 2001 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BOGOTA, COLOMBIA
  • Country: Colombia
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement
  • Reuters ID: LVA85JSNTO3RSDJS6554LSS14BGR
  • Story Text: Colombia authorities have formally charged three suspected Irish Republican Army members with allegedly training Marxist rebels and carrying false passports.
    Colombia's public prosecutor's office said Niall Terence Connolly, Martin McCauley and James Monaghan can be held in a Colombian jail for 240 days on charges of "use of false public documents and training for illicit activities", beginning on Tuesday (August 21), while the state prepares its case against them.
    The three, who have been held since Aug. 11 at military base in Bogota, are not eligible for parole and will be transferred in the coming hours to an unspecified prison.
    The trio allegedly trained the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, the country's largest guerrilla group, to make bombs and other weapons.
    The army said the training was carried out over five weeks while the three were in a demilitarized area that the government handed over to the FARC 2-1/2 years ago to launch peace talks.
    The arrests have hampered peace efforts in Northern Ireland and embarrassed the Colombian government, which is trying to show its peace talks with the FARC are making headway.
    A spokeswoman at the public prosecutor's office said the decision was based on testimony offered by the men, all from Northern Ireland, whom both Colombian and British officials have linked to the mainstream IRA. The spokeswoman did not elaborate.
    Tuesday's decision could mark the beginning of a long legal battle by Colombia against the trio. But also under Colombian law, the public prosecutor's office can at any time decide not to bring the case to trial.
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