Republican News · Thursday 9 January 2003

Colombia Three moved out of Bogota

The three Irishmen facing charges in Colombia, Niall Connolly, Jim Monaghan and Martin McCauley, were moved on Saturday 22 December from La Modela Prison in Bogota to Combita Prison, 87 miles from the capital. The shift came despite assurances made by senior Colombia government representatives to Irish foreign minister Brian Cowen that the men would not be moved out of Bogota.

Caitríona Ruane of the Bring Them Home campaign says Combita is a new high security jail where conditions of detention are very harsh. She says the men's lawyers are already pursuing a case which will be heard by the Colombian Supreme Curt challenging the legality of the men's detention there. Conditions at the prison have been condemned by a statutory human rights group in Colombia, she added.

Under Colombian law, remand and sentenced prisoners cannot be held together, but Combita is a prison for sentenced prisoners. The three Irish men have been convicted of nothing. The distance from Bogota (Combita is a three-hour drive over mountainy roads) is a source of great danger for the men's lawyers and for their visiting families. Human rights lawyers in Colombia are frequently assassinated and having to travel outside Bogota vastly increases the risk to their lives.

Recently, the Colombian Supreme Court ruled against the prison authorities in a similar case.

Ruane says the Dublin government has been making representations to the Colombian authoritiessince the men were moved.

Questions must be asked, however, about the strength of Dublin's protests, given the very strong assurances Cowen received before Christmas that the men would not be moved.

In other developments, the Bring Them Home Campaign is working on a report on the visit of political and legal representatives to Colombia in December for the start of the men's trial.

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Bring Them Home

The Colombia Three

Benefit Concert

Christy Moore and friends

Liberty Hall

Sunday 2 February

8pm

Tickets €30

Available from Central Ticket Bureau (beside Liberty Hall)

Tel. 872 1122 or www.centralticketbureau.com