The Sinn Féin TD for Dublin South West Seán Crowe departed for Colombia this morning to attend the final part of a trial of three Irishmen accused of training Colombia's FARC guerrillas.
It is expected the TD will stay in Columbia for a week. The trial was adjourned by Judge Jairo Acosta in March to give the defence and prosecution lawyers to verify the results of detailed tests carried out on three videos submitted in evidence.
Before leaving, deputy Crowe said he was "convinced that the defence case to date had absolutely demolished the prosecution and had clearly shown that the men should never have been on trial in the first place."
"I am more optimistic now than at any time in the past about the prospects of the men winning this case," he said.
The three accused, Mr Jim Monaghan, Mr Martin McCauley and Mr Niall Connolly, were arrested as they tried to leave Bogota airport on August 11th, 2001.
They had been visiting the former demilitarised zone ceded to the FARC by the previous president, Mr Andrés Pastrana, in an attempt to facilitate peace negotiations. All three deny the charges.