They're back....

mike65

..and there is no extradition.

from indo.

The men known as 'The Columbia Three' are said to be back in Ireland.

It's believed the men entered Ireland from an unknown destination within the past five days.

Niall Connolly, Jim Monaghan and Martin McCauley were arrested in Bogotá Airport on August 11th 2001.

The three Irishmen insisted they visited the zone to observe peace talks.

They were charged with training FARC guerrillas in weapons and explosives and following a lengthy trial the three men mysteriously disappeared.

It's not known how they returned to this country and who may have assisted them.

A government spokesperson has confirmed their return to Ireland is not linked to last week's historic statement by the IRA in which it announced it was giving up the armed struggle.

Mike.

mycroft

mike65 wrote:

..and there is no extradition.

from indo.


Mike.

Wasn't FTA69 cheering their trimuphant return 7 months ago?

I can see the telegrams arriving in cuba now

STOP. DON'T COME HOME. STOP. NASTY BUSINESS WITH MCCARTNEY STOP. AND FUNDRAISING CAMPAIGN STOP. WILL TELEGRAM AFTER WE'VE SHOVELLED SOME GUFF AT THE PRESS IN A FEW MONTHS. STOP. SOMETIME JULY-ISH STOP. ENJOY THE MOCHETOS. STOP.

A Dub in Glasgo

Apart from regurgetating an Indo article, what is this thread about?

mike65

Dub you're quite right to ask (yes I forgot to "comment"). Well as they have resurfaced and assuming for a moment the Garda can find them, will the outstanding Interpol warrents be executed or not? The Northern Ireland office has said they'll send them back if they are caught in NI.

Mike.

Milo

Your indo article fails to mention they were aquited of the charges of training the FARC and that only after a political storm were they subjected to another show trial for the benefit of the Americans and the Columbian public to assuage any doubts that were had as regards the competance of the rather unpopular Columbian government to deal with the FARC and the drugs trade!

Also I might be missing some suggestion of an opinion in your rather lengthy post but I don't think so, so I've gone to the trouble of copying and pasting the first few lines of the posting guidelines for politics!

"Topics should not be verbatim quotes from some article sans comment. Add a comment before or after the post, offering your opinion on the subject, or at the very least, your reason for adding the topic"

mycroft

A Dub in Glasgo wrote:

Apart from regurgetating an Indo article, what is this thread about?

To annouce the party of course, I hear the RA has a little bit of cash to spare for a knees up, and a fatten calf all lined up.

Someone will have to kill and gut the calf of course, but I hear Gerry and Martin know the odd fellow who's well handy with a knife.

kenmc

Wonder what passports they were travelling on this time...

A Dub in Glasgo

mike65 wrote:

Dub you're quite right to ask (yes I forgot to "comment"). Well as they have resurfaced and assuming for a moment the Garda can find them, will the outstanding Interpol warrents be executed or not? The Northern Ireland office has said they'll send them back if they are caught in NI.

Mike.

What is the current legal status of these men in the Republic of Ireland?

I very much doubt any court on this island will send anybody back to face Colombian justice never mind some bird watchers who happen to look at the wrong type of birds.

One of them was interviewed on RTÉ news just now.
They are back in Ireland.
Charlie Bird said it was hard to believe that it was just a coincidence to the IRA statement of last week but the government deny this.

Milo please leave the moderating to the moderators thanks.

mycroft

A Dub in Glasgo wrote:

I very much doubt any court on this island will send anybody back to face Colombian justice never mind some bird watchers who happen to look at the wrong type of birds.

I forget which lie we're on now.

Are they saying they were birdwatchers or "observing" the peace process, at the moment?

tomMK1

they were acquitted werent they? before, obviously, the amazing 'secret' appeal that got them sentenced. Do you have proof of what they were doing mycroft? if not, please dont pretend you have.

Apparently if the columbian government want them back, the irish government will apparently listen. it'll be interesting all the same to see what happens

flogen

mycroft wrote:

I forget which lie we're on now.

Are they saying they were birdwatchers or "observing" the peace process, at the moment?

no, no, no. You're way off. They were eco-tourists. Whatever the hell that means.

flogen

tomMK1 wrote:

they were acquitted werent they? before, obviously, the amazing 'secret' appeal that got them sentenced. Do you have proof of what they were doing mycroft? if not, please dont pretend you have.

Apparently if the columbian government want them back, the irish government will apparently listen. it'll be interesting all the same to see what happens

secret appeal? I thought it was a standard court appeal?

And it's not up to mycroft to prove anything, he's just going on the basis of the last (and thus legally valid) judgement made in Columbia. Is there solid proof of corruption?
I think it would be a bad move by the Irish government not to send them back; not because I think they did it, but it would set a very bad precident. If the Irish decide not to send them back they'll need to justify why (as in prove that the court is corrupt)

Cork

flogen wrote:

I think it would be a bad move by the Irish government not to send them back; not because I think they did it, but it would set a very bad precident. If the Irish decide not to send them back they'll need to justify why (as in prove that the court is corrupt)

This country cannot send out a single that we are soft of fugitives from Justice.

These people need to be sent back to Columbia.

bbbbb

FFS, SF/IRA really know how to take the piss...

Let's hope McDowell unleashes CAB on them soon.

mycroft

tomMK1 wrote:

they were acquitted werent they? before, obviously, the amazing 'secret' appeal that got them sentenced. Do you have proof of what they were doing mycroft? if not, please dont pretend you have.

As flogen said I don't have to present proof, SF have just stammered that columbian justice is corrupt and unreliable and therefore the must be being sitched up,

Meanwhile SF have said they're eco tourists, no birdwatchers, no wait observing the peace process, they've lied repeatadly about their reason for being there in the first place.

county

Cork wrote:

This country cannot send out a single that we are soft of fugitives from Justice.

These people need to be sent back to Columbia.

too bloodly right

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

county

i am sure bertie would`nt piss off another nation over 3 IRA scumbags,totally agree,send them back

magick

no one gives a farc about them, their more than llikely going to be sent back but they will try and appeal

JJJonsey

Send 'em back and let them rot.

I can't believe the british government are already acting upon the SF/IRA's words by taking down the lookout posts etc, and now this, its just taking the piss.

If you or I arrived here on forged passports (and two of them area alleged to have) then we would be dragged over the coals for it. I already think that Ireland could prove to be an achilles heel for the UK in terms of security (security passcodes rarely checked at airports etc, Dublin was just the start mark my words) and if these tossers aren't sent back quick smart, it will go all the way to proving that Ireland is a soft touch.

rsynnott

Who let them in? Send them back by return of post.

mike65

Other message board/bloging comment here and here

Mike.

mike65

Columbian Vice President calls on Government to extradite the OTRs.

Colombian authorities are awaiting an official response from the Irish government following calls for the Columbia 3 to be returned to the country.

In a statement, Vice President Francisco Santos said Bertie Ahern had the legal and moral obligation to return the three men who were sentenced for training FARC rebels.

It emerged yesterday that Niall Connolly, Martin McCauley and James Monaghan, who were given 17 years in jail in Columbia, are now back in Ireland.

Opposition parties are questioning how this was allowed to happen.

The Green Party's Deputy Dan Boyle is calling for clarification from the government.

"Many people in Ireland feel uncomfortable with the quality of the legal system in Colombia, and there is no extradition treaty", said Deputy Boyle.

"But there are secondary issues such as the use of illegal Irish passports", he continued.

Mr Boyle said that the government needs to make a statement as to whether the three men have any legal issues they have to account for.

So its not like Bertie and Michael McD can ignore this. No doubt some get-out regarding "banana republic justice" can be put forward but it'll still looks like Provos 1 - 0 Irish Government.

Mike.

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

You know I have 2 cold light of day comments to make here.
1. Due process should be served again before we rush to judgement
2. What sort of eejits were the people who made this public? They handed a propaganda tool to the unionists,just when they were finding it hard to have any straws to grasp on to.
I'd hazzard a guess that rank and file IRA members needed to know about this to keep them on board for the Statement-but to make it public in such a way?
What a blunder in terms of peace process management.
They could have simply got one of their local "commanders" from each area to meet them and withness that they were back in Ireland.
I'm guessing that there was "covert" assistance from the Irish Government with their return(which obviously being covert,they will deny).
That "covert" assistance was probably a compromise for the impossibility of the release of the McCabe killers.
I'm also guessing that someone in the IRA took the decision to go public on this as a nah nah nan nah na jeer to unionists and as a buoy up to the IRA rank and file.

Ultimately in my view they did more harm than good by doing it this way.
They werent pragmatic.

luckat

If they were handed back to Colombia and then murdered in jail (Colombian jails have a horrific record on prisoner murders), it might not be great for the peace process either; the unionists wouldn't be particularly impressed one way or the other, but republicans would see it as the ultimate betrayal.

Incidentally, isn't it heartwarming that Mr Paisley is going to be lorded?

Some of his sermons are here http://www.jesus-is-lord.com/camp.htm if inspiration is needed.

gurramok

JJJonsey wrote:

If you or I arrived here on forged passports (and two of them area alleged to have) then we would be dragged over the coals for it. I already think that Ireland could prove to be an achilles heel for the UK in terms of security (security passcodes rarely checked at airports etc, Dublin was just the start mark my words) and if these tossers aren't sent back quick smart, it will go all the way to proving that Ireland is a soft touch.

Its not news that people that slip in out of this country.
After all, we are a major trans-shipment point for drugs gangs and have thousands of asylum seekers flowing back and forth with open borders.

According to security sources that are often quoted in the Indo, there are about 200 potential Islamic terrorists lying low, travelling freely without security services watching them.

Point is anybody can come and go as they wish.

hill16

Its great news they are home,cant wait for their welcome home function.

Villain

Fools going public on their return at this stage, Adams must be furious. I really couldn't be bothered going into what they were doing out there again However I think people might want to look at the FACTS of the case before making wild accusations especially the first judge's comments. I really doubt that they will be sent back seeing as the Irish government were looking for their return pending another appeal.

Bad timing lads real bad timing, Paisley will harp on about this one for at least 6 months.

irish1

irish1 wrote:

Bad timing lads real bad timing, Paisley will harp on about this one for at least 6 months.

It might be "good timing" if you look at it another way...

Some people might have wanted to hand this to Paisley to slow up the process...
You know like what good is a process if it actually achieves an agreement with paisley? There'd be no big bad wolf to show up as the face of these baddie unionists.
Paisley might have got too reasonable too quickly like.

One should never underestimate the spanner throwers on either side when it comes to the North.