MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Colombia acquits three IRA suspects

A Colombian court this Monday acquitted three Irish Republican Army members of training local leftist rebels in bomb-making techniques. However the court sentenced the three on false documentation charges.

James Monaghan, Niall Connolly and Martin McCauley who have been in custody since their apprehension in August 2001, received 44, 26 and 36 months for travelling with false passports.

Judge Jairo Acosta determined that the three Irishmen were not guilty of the most serious charge of "instruction in illegal activities," which carries a prison term of up to 25 years. The three were sentenced to "the additional punishment of deportation from national territory."

Prosecutors can appeal the ruling to a higher court but supporters fear this may delay their departure. Connolly, Monaghan and McCauley are currently free on bail.

The ordeal of the three IRA suspects began August 11, 2001, when they were arrested by military authorities at Bogota's Eldorado International Airport as they were preparing to leave the country after returning from a southern region then controlled by the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, the country's largest guerrilla organization.

Colombian Army intelligence accused the three of instructing the rebels in bomb-making techniques and safe handling of explosives during the five weeks they remained in the zone. The three men denied the charges at all times.

They claimed the passports they used to enter Colombia were legal and that the names were only changed to hide their former links to the IRA for their own protection. They admitted meeting with FARC members but only for political reasons. The trial lasted eight months.

Republic of Ireland Foreign Minister Brian Cowen said he hoped the men would soon be reunited with their families.