Colombia Three refuse to attend trial resumption

The controversial trial of three Irishmen charged with training Colombian rebels resumed overnight without the presence of the…

The controversial trial of three Irishmen charged with training Colombian rebels resumed overnight without the presence of the accused because they refuse to recognise the court's legitimacy.

Mr Jim Monaghan (56), Mr Martin McCauley (40), and Mr Niall Connolly (36) have been charged with training Marxist FARC rebels in bomb-making techniques and with using false passports.

They were arrested as they tried to leave Bogota airport in August 2001 and held at a number of prisons in conditions that have led protests from a support group for the Three.

There have also been allegations that the men will not receive a fair trial. Proceedings have been delayed on a number of occasions because two key prosecution witness refused to testify saying they feared for their lives.

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A delegation of Irish observers including Mr Paul Hill, falsely convicted of the Guildford bombing, Sinn Féin TD Sean Crowe and Fianna Fail Senator Mary White are monitoring proceedings.

The court heard that one of the accused, Mr Niall Connolly, was in Cuba at the time the prosecution alleges he was in Colombia training FARC guerillas.

A prosecution witness described as a FARC deserter said at a hearing last month that the three men trained him and others in bomb-making and urban warfare techniques in December 1999 and January 2000.

But at last night's hearing, aid worker Mr Ros O'Sullivan said that in December 1999 and December 2000 - he met Niall Connolly in Cuba. He said the accused was working as a translator in Cuba where he was living with his wife and two children.

Most of the remainder of Mr O'Sullivan's testimony was spent establishing which aid agency the witness worked for.

The trial continues.