The British government has rejected claims that comments made by the prime minister, Mr Tony Blair, were prejudicial to the trial of the three Irishmen currently held on terrorist charges in a Colombian prison.
Mr James Monaghan, Mr Niall Connolly and Mr Martin McCauley are charged with training Colombia's FARC guerrillas in IRA bomb-making techniques and with using false passports.
The trial ended in August but there has been no verdict yet.
In correspondence seen by The Irish Times, Ms Caitríona Ruane of the Bring Them Home group wrote to Mr Blair on May 1st on behalf of the campaign: "We have been disturbed and disappointed to read comments made by you during media interviews this week when you referred, on two occasions, to activities in Colombia among the reasons why trust has broken down in the North's peace process."
Accusing Mr Blair of making prejudicial comments on the case, she wrote: "During the lengthy trial these allegations have been disproven by a variety of witnesses for the defence."
Replying on behalf of the prime minister, the Northern Ireland Office wrote on July 28th: "In the media interviews that you discuss, the prime minister was referring to the difficulties that a number of events, including the alleged activities in Colombia, have created. As set out in paragraph 13 of the Joint Declaration, the two Governments need to see an immediate, full and permanent cessation of all paramilitary activity. In this context, it was necessary for the prime minister to mention the debate surrounding events in Colombia. The Government does not consider that general comment of this nature risks prejudicing the trials in Colombia".