Bogotá
Three alleged Irish Republican Army members accused of training Colombian guerrillas refused this week to attend their own trial. A group of supporters said the men—Niall Connolly, Martin McCauley, and James Monaghan—were boycotting the proceedings because they could not get a fair hearing. They were arrested last year trying to leave the country with fake passports. The authorities said they found traces of explosives on their clothes and that witnesses saw them showing leftist rebels how to make bombs. Defense lawyers said their clients were innocent, but had been all but convicted in the media. Judge Jairo Acosta denied the trial was rigged and declared his courtroom to be “impermeable” to anything but the facts.
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