The so-called "Colombia Three" are scheduled to appear in court in Bogota today for the first time to make final pleas in their trial on charges of training the left-wing FARC rebels and of using false passports. Deaglán de Bréadún Foreign Affairs Correspondent reports from Bogota, Colombia
Up to now, Mr James Monaghan, Mr Martin McCauley and Mr Niall Connolly have been refusing to come to court, claiming they could not get a fair trial.
Today they are expected to make individual statements protesting their innocence on the main charge of training the FARC (the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia).
Since the prosecution has completed its case, the men cannot be cross-examined by opposing counsel. Judge Jairo Acosta, who is hearing the case without a jury, has lifted a ban on reporting the proceedings in the Colombian media.
The charge of training the FARC in IRA bomb-making techniques carries a sentence of up to 24 years. The lesser charge of using false passports carries a sentence of two to eight years.
The judge is not expected to give his verdict for several weeks. It is normal practice in Colombia for verdicts to be appealed by the losing side and the appeal process could drag on for as long as two more years.
The three men have been held in a succession of Colombian prisons since their arrest on August 11th, 2001. They are currently in La Modelo prison, on the outskirts of Bogota. If convicted only on the passports charge and given the minimum two-year sentence, they could simply be deported back to Ireland.
However, the prosecution has called for a conviction on the bomb-training charge, with the maximum sentence imposed. A representative of the Colombian Solicitor-General has also called on the judge to "condemn" the three.
Although the offices of Prosecutor and Solicitor-General are separate, their closing statements were very similar in content.
Each relied heavily on testimony by deserters from the FARC who said they had seen the three men giving bomb-training to the rebels.
The Prosecutor, Mr Carlos Sanchez, was critical of testimony given by an Irish diplomat, Ms Síle Maguire, who had told the court she met Mr Connolly in the Cuban capital, Havana, at a dinner for a visiting Irish parliamentary delegation on January 17th, 2001, at a time when the Prosecution claims he was in Colombia.
There were some eyebrows raised when Mr Sanchez accused Ms Maguire, First Secretary at the Irish embassy in Mexico, of having a "selective memory" and of "hiding behind her diplomatic immunity".
The Bogota court proceedings are being observed by the Irish Ambassador to Mexico and Colombia, Mr Art Agnew.
Meanwhile, Ms Caitríona Ruane, of the Bring Them Home Campaign, commented yesterday:
"We are very, very concerned at the insult that the Prosecutor made to the Irish Government and the Irish people." She claimed he was effectively calling an Irish diplomat and Irish parliamentarians liars.
An Australian Labour MP, Mr Paul Lynch, said he had travelled from Sydney to observe the trial because he believed there were "legitimate human rights, civil liberties issues" involved.
"The evidence that I have seen would suggest that there is no substantive case against them at all, in which case you have got to be fairly concerned about the process that they are going through," said Mr Lynch, whose grandfather came from Castlederg, Co Tyrone.