Republican News · Thursday 15 August 2002

Colombian Attorney General violates right to fair trial

The Colombian Attorney General, Luis Camilo Osario, in an interview with the BBC, has made very prejudicial comments about the case of the three men currently detained in La Picota Jail in Bogota, Colombia.

In an extensive interview, Osario claimed that the men, Jim Monaghan, Martin McCauley and Niall Connolly, were in the IRA and that they had trained the FARC. He dismissed concerns about their safety and made disparaging comments about the Bring Them Home Campaign and their lawyers. He also gave out inaccurate, misleading and incomplete information in relation to the forensics. His comments were made four days after the new president Alvaro Uribe was inaugurated. At midnight last night, the new president declared a State of Emergency in Colombia and this has created fears of a crackdown on human rights. He has also appointed a new head of the prison service, the first time in ten years that a member of the Colombian Army has held this post.

Caitriona Ruane who is out in Colombia for a week visiting the men, the lawyers, international human rights agencies and journalists, said

"Comments made by the Attorney General are a serious breach of right to fair trial and independence of the judiciary. Here we have the most senior member of the prosecuting authority in the case of the three men, making personal, prejudicial and inaccurate comments. What we have here is one of the worst cases of trial by media.

"His comments about the men´s lawyers and the Bring Them Home Campaign are a disgrace. He appears to be peeved that we are fighting for the men´s human rights in a country where human rights are violated on a daily basis. He blames the lawyers for delaying the case rather than the Colombian authorities. This is blatantly untrue. The Colombian authorities have delayed the trial despite representation from our lawyers, the Irish government and the campaign. By the time the men are brought to court on 4 October, they will have been held for 14 months. This campaign makes no apology for fighting for basic international rights for three Irish citizens in a Colombian jail.

"He claims that the men were safe in all the jails they were in - this is another untruth - the men had to be moved from two of the jails they were held in because of threats to their lives. In one of the holding centres they were being held illegally, in inhumane conditions. This was denounced by the United Nations High Commission Office in Colombia. It was only when a case was taken to the Colombian Supreme Court that they were moved to the jail they are in now. They are still not safe and there was a poison scare a few months ago. The men are not in cells together; each of them is sharing a cell with men charged with drugs trafficking offences awaiting extradition.

"There has been an armed conflict in Colombia for more than 30 years - this has taken place in the rural areas and in the cities. Yet every action carried out by guerilla groups is blamed on the three men. This is dreadful propaganda and misinformation.

"I was in visiting the men on Sunday. It was their first anniversary in jail. They are very concerned about the disinformation and the possibility of them getting a fair trial.

"I will be meeting the lawyers today and bringing a transcript of Mr Osario´s comments. I will also be meeting with the United Nations Office in Bogota and bringing these comments to their attention."