Alleged IRA members convicted of aiding Colombian rebels granted amnesty
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Three alleged IRA members who were convicted of training Colombian rebels in bomb-making have been granted an amnesty.
The “Colombia Three” fled to Ireland shortly before they were sentenced to 17 years’ imprisonment for training FARC guerillas.
Niall Connolly, James Monaghan and Martin McCauley have now received an amnesty from the Colombian government as part of the 2016 peace deal aimed at ending the half-century-long conflict in the south American country.
The three men were arrested at Bogotá’s international airport in August 2001 and charged with travelling on false passports and training FARC guerillas.
Although they were acquitted on the charge of training FARC guerillas in August 2003, prosecutors subsequently appealed the verdict.
While on bail awaiting the outcome of the appeal, the three men secretly fled to Ireland, which has no extradition deal with Colombia.
The prosecution appeal succeeded and the men were sentenced to 17 years’ imprisonment, but were never returned to Colombia.
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