Originally Posted by JohnB
Why dont you mention the 100s of Catholic deaths that were caused by Loyalist and British State collusion/expertise
Theres something closer to home for you to study.
Go lí cúnna ifrinn do thóin bheagmhaitheasach
Or the Dublin and Monaghan Bombing victims who seem to be conveniently forgotten by people in this jurisdiction?
Assuming the three boys are innocent of the charges, as one of them has a rock solid alibi. What the FARC were they doing in Colombia in the first place? Especially in bandito held territory... hardly a high spot for tourism
I've no problem mentioning it or condemning it and, if someone was defending loyalist or army murderers in the same way that you defend IRA murderers, I'd challenge them. Dortie, you defend republican murders by employing whataboutery. That's because they are indefensible. And I'm not trying to change your mind, I'm challenging you because I've read several of tour posts on this site and you seem to think that because you come from NI that you are somehow the last word on what's what regarding republican murders.
Never said that in any of my posts. You have your opinions and I have mine (Along with 55% of the Catholic vote up here).
I simply try to give an alternative to the usual biased anti-republican remarks.
Go lí cúnna ifrinn do thóin bheagmhaitheasach
Funny how many people were saying what a great justice system they had when the 3 boys were cleared at first instance. Any Court over there is about as impartial as Lord Denning. The only thing about all of this that surprised me is that they were cleared at first instance.
They deserve the right to a fair trial, if only the ICC could handle these type of case.
In saying that Im fairly confident that they'd be found guilty if they had a fair trial but John B I promise you if you ever get wrongly accused of a crime you'll thank you're lucky stars that we have a fair system of Justice where correct procedure is important.
Take Gilligan. Everyone knows he did it, but it could not be proved and the Judge correctly threw the case out. There simply wasnt the reliable evidence there required to convict him.
Oh no not them again
Were there people that said that Sean?
From the very start, there were serious reservations about the Colombian "justice" system. For years, both the UN and Amnesty have continually raised questions and pointed up instances of severe abuses of human rights in that country.
On another point, it have been mentioned many, many times on this thread that FARC are "terrorists". It might be pointed out that ones man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter. There is plenty of evidence to show that the Colombian Government is just as bloody, ruthless and utterly corrupt as the FARC.
It has also been mentioned many times that the FARC are funded by the "drugs trade". It might be pointed out that the entire Colombian economic system is virtually dependent on the cocaine business,
1. by being directly involved in growing, harvesting, selling of cocaine, or
2. by being funded by the US to fight the growing, harvesting, selling of cocaine
and therefore, the government and the civil and justice systems of that country are also very much dependent on the "drugs trade".
It is very hard to see a plausible explaination for those guys presence in the country. However, contrary to what some of the more ignorant members of certain parties in our government might say,
a) they have not recieved a fair trial, by any accepted standard of what that means,
b) the appeal was by the Prosecution not something which would be accepted here either, and
c) the decision in that appeal appears to be entirely politically motivated.
Nobody would stand for any of that in this country, so I don't see why we should stand for it in Colombia.
I believe that everyone is entitled to justice and a fair trial. However, as I stated before, I'm not a member of a jury and I can therefore have an opinion based on probability. I've no sympathy for anyone who passes on expertise in killing, which I believe these three were doing. The Colombian government is corrupt and needs to be brought to task, but killing shoppers is not the way to go about it.
I read suggestions that these 3 could be granted release under the GF agreement as "on the run volunteer" which would mean the IRA would have to admit they working on their behalf which they have denied so far...
I presume the irish government had legal observers at their trial so any points about unfairness should surely go thru that process.
The following were definitely there:
Senator Mary Henry, from FF, was at most of the trial and wrote six extensive reports on it,
Finian McGrath an independent TD was at the trial,
Amnesty had observers,
the Irish Times had Deaglán De Breadún
and I'm fairly sure there were various visits by cross-party delegation(s).
Again there, seems to be an implicit doubt that there was unfairness in the trial. The trial has been condemned as blatently unfair by all of the above, none of whom have any axe to grind on behalf of Sinn Fein.
Sorry didnt make myself clear. People were more than willing to accept the first instance verdict on the grounds that they were found innocent on the 'evidence'. What Im getting at is that the thing should never had proceeded in the first place based on the poor case and serious lack of "reasonable doubt" evidence. The prosecution didnt bother constructing a proper case because they never the trial would eventually end in a pre determinded way.
Oh no not them again
as for what they were doing there, apparently there was a peace-process at the time, and many interntaional observers from various groups visited that area (according to the bbc journo on the last word the other day)
from what I've seen/read the colmbian legal system is very dodgy and I wouldn't trust these verdicts at all. I have my suspicions about what those 3 were up to, but my suspicions of the columbian government (US-supported right-wingers) are far greater.
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