From left: James Monaghan , Martin McCauley and Niall Connolly after their arrest in Colombia in 2001

Yesterday.

Bogota, Colombia.

Via Colombia Reports:

Colombia’s war crimes tribunal has granted amnesty to three former IRA members who had been sentenced to prison for assisting the now-defunct FARC rebel group in bomb-making.

Irishmen Martin John McCauley, Niall Terrence Connolly and Seamus O‘Muineachain received amnesty after the court ruled that — even though they weren’t members of the FARC — their crimes were directly related to the armed conflict.

The former IRA members were arrested in 2001 and sentenced to 17 years in prison in 2004 on fraud charges. By then, they had already fled to Ireland, the Prosecutor General’s Office announced.

Theywere the last remaining foreigners with pending prison sentences for crimes related to Colombia’s armed conflict after a 2016 peace deal between the FARC and former President Juan Manuel Santos allowed the release of dozens of foreign members of the former guerrilla group.

Colombia grants amnesty to former IRA members as part of peace process (Colombia Reports)