Colombia accused refuse to attend court

The three suspected IRA members accused of helping Colombian guerrillas refused to attend a court hearing in Bogota yesterday…

The three suspected IRA members accused of helping Colombian guerrillas refused to attend a court hearing in Bogota yesterday because they were afraid for their safety, officials said.

The judge was forced to put back the case and will now set a date for the start of their trial on October 16th.

Defence lawyers have insisted that Mr Martin McCauley, Mr James Monaghan and Mr Niall Connolly, who were arrested on August 11th, 2001 at Bogota airport, will not get a fair trial.

Judiciary spokesman Mr Jorge Cruz the three had just refused to go to the Bogota courthouse from their jail in the capital.

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"Just as they were about to be moved to the court from Picota prison, the three Irishmen refused to come out, saying there were not enough security guarantees," a national penitentiary source told AFP.

Mr Agustin Jimenez, spokesman for a group which helps foreign detainees in Colombian prisons, said that "according to other prisoners, we know that the Irishmen were beaten by police in a bid to force them to go to the court."

The trio are accused of visiting a Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) haven in the south of Colombia to train rebels in using explosives, car bombs and making weapons that the IRA had experience in.

They have been charged with assisting illegal activities and using false documents, including passports, to collaborate with the FARC. If found guilty, they could be sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Colombian officials said in August they had firm evidence that the IRA has helped train and equip FARC.

The three men have strongly denied the charges. And Mr Pedro Mahecha, one of the defence lawyers, said the trio had been made "scapegoats" by the Bogota government as its seeks favour with the United States by putting on a show of support for the US war on terrorism.

The US embassy in Bogota denied the charges. A spokesman said: "We are not involved in this affair, and we have only given technical assistance to the Colombian authorities, as we have for other countries."

Mr Monaghan was convicted in Northern Ireland in 1971 of possessing explosives and conspiring to cause explosions.

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

Defence lawyers say the prosecution case is based on flimsy evidence and is full of procedural errors.

The men said they were visiting Colombia to study the peace process there, according to their lawyers.

Former Colombian president Mr Andres Pastrana ceded a Switzerland-sized territory to the FARC to lure it to the negotiating table.

As many as 15 IRA members visited the rebel stronghold during the three-year peace talks, according to a US congressional report.