‘Colombia 3′ back in Ireland – Irish state radio

DUBLIN (Reuters) – Three Irishmen convicted in a Colombian
court of teaching Marxist rebels how to make bombs have
surfaced in Ireland, state broadcaster RTE reported on Friday.

The men, Jim Monaghan, Niall Connolly and Martin McCauley,
who Colombia says are members of the Irish Republican Army,
disappeared after their release from a Bogota jail a year ago
to await a state appeal of their initial acquittal.

The appeal court overturned the acquittal and sentenced the
three to up to 17 years in prison, but by that time red-faced
authorities had to admit they had lost track of the men, and
that they had probably defied a court order to stay in the
country.

At one stage authorities believed the three were in Cuba.

The men’s reappearance in their home country comes a week
after the IRA pledged to end its armed campaign against British
rule in Northern Ireland.

The three men were arrested in 2001 and accused of training
members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC,
in bomb-making techniques.

They have denied the charges, and the accusation that they
belong to the IRA.