The columbia three verdict due tomorrow.

international | rights, freedoms and repression | news report Thursday April 22, 2004 18:16 by Shinner - Sinn Fein

The verdict in the case of three Irish men charged with travelling on false passports and training rebels in Colombia is expected to be delivered within days.

The verdict in the case of three Irish men charged with travelling on false passports and training rebels in Colombia is expected to be delivered within days.
The trial of James Monaghan, Niall Connolly and Martin McAuley ended in Bogota more than eight months ago.
They are accused of training left-wing Farc rebels in the use of explosives and using false documentation.
The men were arrested in August 2001 as they stepped off a plane from an area which was a stronghold of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc).
The three men had previously refused to attend the trial because of fears for their safety, but later in the trial they protested their innocence in addresses to the non-jury court.
Journalist Mark Duffy, who has been following the case, said it was at the very last stage.
"We have been waiting for just over nine months for a verdict which was postponed on three different occasions.
"It now looks like on Friday - or Monday of next week at the latest - that the judge will finally pronounce on the case of the three Irish men.
"I spoke to the judge on Wednesday afternoon and he told me it would be Friday or Monday, but it was really impossible to get any idea of what way he was thinking on this.
"If the men are found guilty, then there is the possibility that they could receive between 15 and 20 years in prison.
"That is for the most serious charge of training the Farc guerillas in Colombia.
"On the lesser charge of entering the country on false documents, they could just be deported within days or possibly a week of the verdict being announced."
'Treated differently'
Sinn Fein assembly member, Catriona Ruane, who has been in charge of the campaign to free the men, is now on her way to Colombia.
She said it was not clear how the verdict would be given.
"There is some confusion about that generally," she told BBC Radio Ulster on Thursday.
"In Colombia what happens is that a letter is delivered to the jail by the court authorities and there isn't a public announcement.
"There are some rumours that there will be a public announcement - this case hasn't been normal, it has been abnormal and treated differently to a lot of other cases."
Mr McAuley is from Northern Ireland, while the other two are from the Irish Republic.