South American authorities revoke amnesty for alleged IRA members ‘Colombia Three’

James Monaghan, Niall Connolly and Martin McCauley were sentenced to 17 years in prison in Colombia in 2004 after being accused of travelling to the country on false papers and teaching FARC guerrillas how to build improvised mortar bombs.

The trio had fled on bail and did not return to Colombia. They were granted an amnesty by a special peace tribunal in Colombia in 2020.

However, two weeks ago the three men appeared before the Colombian Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) via videolink from Dublin where their amnesty was revoked after their contribution to the truth was found to be null and void.

There was a peace agreement between Colombian authorities and FARC rebels in 2016 ending a decades long conflict.

The JEP Amnesty and Pardon Chamber, which is part of the peace process, grants amnesty to people convicted or accused of crimes which formed part of armed conflict, ruled that the three Irishmen seriously breached the terms of their conditional release.

As part of the process those involved have to tell the truth before the JEP about their involvement and knowledge of things that happened during the conflict – but the Irishmen are still denying they were training rebels and claim they are innocent.

Spanish language newspaper El Pais reported that the JEP had wanted the trio to tell them of their involvement and also what possible relationship FARC had with the IRA during the conflict and whether the Colombians paid for the training and what the contact routes were.

During a hearing on May 22, the judiciary revoked the amnesty and the conditional freedom granted to the Irishmen.

Colombian authorities say there was sufficient evidence to suggest the trio were aiming to exchange information on homemade explosives and train FARC guerillas.

In their ruling, the judges say the three men never gave details on unknown facts of the conflict, and failed to justify their visits to the FARC camps.

The JEP said the fact the men were still claiming innocence does not exempt them from the duty to provide the full truth.

​ The Irishmen have appealed the court’s decision.

The Sunday World reported more than a year ago how the JEP was planning to revoke the Irishmen’s amnesty but the decision was only confirmed at the latest hearing after the JEP felt the trio didn’t give comprehensive answers of what happened.

At the time, James Monaghan told the Sunday World he was aware of the latest developments but didn’t wish to comment.

Mr Monaghan told our reporter: “I don’t want to make any statement about that,. Only the lawyers could give a statement. The lawyers are dealing with it.”

The trio were arrested at Bogotá airport in 2001 at a very sensitive time in the Irish peace process.

Following a series of cases, they were eventually

sentencing them to 17 years in jail in 2004.

However, the day after their conviction, the Colombian Attorney General announced the men had fled Colombia

and had clandestinely returned to Ireland.

They were subsequently questioned by Gardaí, but no moves were made to extradite them back to Colombia as no extradition treaty or agreement exists between Colombia and Ireland.