Bring Them Home Campaign Organises Protest Outside Department of Foreign Affiars

national | miscellaneous | news report Thursday March 13, 2003 13:32 by Dataflow

Calls on Irish government to publicly stand up for rights of Irish citizens

The Bring Them Home Campaign is organising a protest outside the Department of Foreign Affairs on Saturday March 15, 2003 at 2.30 p.m. The speakers include Paul Hill (Guildford 4) Finian McGrath T.D, Sean Crowe T.D, Caitriona Ruane and Dan Connolly.

The Bring Them Home Campaign is organising a protest outside the Department of Foreign Affairs on Saturday March 15, 2003 at 2.30 p.m. The speakers include Paul Hill (Guildford 4) Finian McGrath T.D, Sean Crowe T.D, Caitriona Ruane and Dan Connolly.

Caitriona Ruane spokesperson for the Bring Them Home Campaign said 'The trial in Colombia is a farce, three Irish citizens have been held for 19 months in some of the most dangerous jails in the world. The trial began in October 2002 and has stopped and started 5 times since then. Yet we have only had 4 prosecution witnesses during that time. Each one worse than the previous one.'

It is obvious that the Colombian military are putting up 'prepared witnesses' who contradict themselves under cross examination. It was so
farcical at the last hearing on March 4, the witness admitted under cross examination that he was a soldier living in a military barracks and that he received benefits from the Colombian Army and prosecution. He was 19 years of age and his testimony was riddled with contradictions. Another witness claimed that he was trained by the three Irishmen from February 5 - 25 of
February 2001. A video tape of Jim Monaghan was shown on RTE giving a presentation on Peace and Reconciliation in Belfast during that time.'

'The Colombian State is fabricating a case against these three men and a miscarriage of justice is occurring as we speak. The Irish Government must intervene publicly to stop this farce. They have to stop pretending that Colombia is a democratic country with a 'normal' legal system.'

Paul Hill (Guildford 4) said 'I was 13 years in jail before I was visited by any representative of any Irish Government. When they did intervene, (albeit 13 years too late) their intervention was very significant and contributed towards getting us released. I am calling on the Irish government to intervene in this case now, to stop a miscarriage of justice happening. I hope that the Irish Government has learned the lessons from our case and that these men do not suffer the same injustice as we did. It is time the Irish Government found the moral backbone to stand up for Irish citizens instead of hiding in the corner hoping it will all go away.'

For further information contact Caitriona Ruane on + 353 86 8311311