Colombian International Trial observers raise serious worries

antrim | rights, freedoms and repression | opinion/analysis Wednesday January 07, 2004 00:09 by Mrsmerton

A team of international observers at the trial of 3 Irishmen accused of IRA activity in Colombia have requested a meeting with a high level offical from the Colombian government to raise serious concerns about the Colombian judicial process.

5 members of the Australian monitoring group including public representative Paul Lynch, and Sydney barrister Shaun Kerrigan who attended the 3 Irish men's court case earlier this year hope to raise their concerns about the judicial process with the Colombian representative in Australia.

International observers sent a letter to the Colombian Consul General in Sydney Joaquim Alfedo Alzamora on December 29th, for an appointment to raise issues such as the Independence of the judge presiding over the Irishmen's case and the Fairness of the legal process.

Writing in an earlier report on his experience of the trial in Colombia, legal expert Mr Kerrigan said,''The public nature of the trial, the statements made by the former President Pastrana, the current President Uribe, and the current Vice President Santos, along with major military figures, the Minister for Justice, and the prosecutor himself OUTSIDE the court house on numerous occasions can only lead to one logical conclusion- the trial was a search for a conviction and not a search for the truth''. The outcome of the trial being effectively already predetermined.

He continued''The system in Colombia is nothing short of appalling rough justice and the external pressure placed on lawyers and judicial officers is obvious in the extreme''.

Mr Kerrigan said he was convinced there was no evidence to convict the accused. Other members of the monitoring team have raised questions as to whether the defendants were actually in the country at the time the offences were allegedly commited.

The 3 Irishmen have been held in a Colombian prison since August 2001, during which time their nine month trial was adjourned 7 times, due to the Colombian authorities refusal to guarantee the defendants safe passage to the trial.

The Bogota judge presiding over the the trial of the 3 irishmen has been considering his verdict for 6 months, since the end of the trial in July 2003.