The judge in the trial of the so-called "Colombia Three" has said he does not expect to deliver a verdict before February. Judge Jairo Acosta blamed the delay on his heavy workload and said he had 20 other cases to rule on first.
Three Irishmen, Mr James Monaghan (56), Mr Martin McCauley (40), and Mr Niall Connolly (36), were arrested in Bogota's El Dorado airport in August 2001 and charged with teaching bomb-making techniques to the left-wing FARC guerrillas and with travelling on false passports.
They are currently in La Modelo prison in the Colombian capital where they have been awaiting a verdict since their trial concluded five months ago. The judgment is likely to be delivered to the prison in writing. They could get eight to 14 years if found guilty on the bomb-making charge, and two to eight years if convicted of using false passports.
"I am still very behind in a lot of cases," Judge Acosta told the Associated Press in Bogota. "We are aiming for the first few months of the year to try and put an end to the restlessness that many people are experiencing." Judge Acosta is one of only nine judges in Bogota who specialise in terrorism, kidnapping and drug-trafficking cases.
Ms Caitrióna Ruane, spokeswoman for the Bring Them Home Campaign, said in Dublin yesterday: "These men have just spent their third Christmas in jail, they will spend their third New Year's Eve in a Colombian jail. It is obvious to the world that there is no evidence to substantiate the charges. Justice delayed is justice denied. What is happening here is wrong."
The Irish Government should "use the European Presidency to ensure justice", Ms Ruane said. The three were arrested after flying out of the zone in southern Colombia which was controlled at the time by the FARC (The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia).