After two days, Colombian trial adjourned to July

The trial of the three Irishmen detained in Bogota was adjourned yesterday after just two days of hearings

The trial of the three Irishmen detained in Bogota was adjourned yesterday after just two days of hearings. It will not resume until July.

Mr Jim Monaghan, Mr Martin McCauley and Mr Niall Connolly were arrested almost two years ago at Bogota airport after they arrived from a town in an area controlled by guerrillas from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, the country's largest rebel group.

At yesterday's hearing, Dr Laurence McKeown, a former republican prisoner and hunger striker, continued to give evidence. He was questioned by the prosecuting lawyer, Mr Carlos Sanchez.

In April, another witness for the defence, Mr Mike Ritchie, submitted a video to the court that shows one of the defendants, Mr Monaghan, hosting a conference on peace and reconciliation processes in Dublin on February 7th, 2001.

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In the video, Mr Monaghan makes reference to Colombia. He also refers to an article in that same day's Irish Times about a last-ditch attempt to save Colombia's faltering peace process.

At the April hearing, the Judge ordered the video to be examined by a special unit of DAS - Colombia's security police - to determine its authenticity.

The DAS report has not been discussed in court during the current hearings.

During Monday's hearing, Dr McKeown submitted several sworn affidavits to the court from people who know or had worked with Mr Monaghan. Colombian authorities say the defendant was in Colombia on dates that the defence says he was in Ireland. For reasons that remain unclear the judge, Mr Jairo Acosta, rejected the affidavits.

He also refused to accept work records for another of the defendants, Mr McCauley, which prove that he was actively employed in Ireland on dates the prosecution claims he was in Colombia.

The guerrilla enclave where the men where alleged to have been was part of a former demilitarised zone ceded to the insurgent group by previous president Mr Andres Pastrana, in an attempt to start peace negotiations. Colombian intelligence sources claim the three were training members of the FARC in sophisticated weapons technology and urban terrorism tactics.

The men's arrests in August 2001, marked the start of a lengthy legal process and an on-again, off-again trial that is in its seventh session since last October.

The current round of hearings ended at 3 p.m. local time (9 p.m. Irish time).

Ms Caitriona Ruane, spokesperson for the Bring Then Home solidarity campaign and the defence lawyers, said after the hearing: "We are very concerned that key evidence has been refused. To date the judge has denied evidence from Michele Devlin and Catherine Murphy [two women who attended the conference\], and now is not accepting important documents that prove the date of the video and the dates that Martin McCauley was in Ireland."

The trial was adjourned until July 28th.