Three Irishmen charged with training Marxist rebels in Colombia have been acquitted but were found guilty of travelling using false documentation.
The three men - Jim Monaghan, Niall Connolly and Martin McCauley - were arrested in August 2001 trying to leave Colombia using false passports after visiting a rebel stronghold in southern Colombia .
The three have been convicted of using false documents and sentenced to terms from 26 to 44 months, Montanez said. If convicted on the more serious charge of training FARC guerrillas, the men faced jail terms of up to 20 years in prison.
The men were arrested at Bogota's El Dorado international airport on August 11th, 2001, and subsequently charged with training the Marxist guerrillas of the FARC (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia) in IRA bomb-making techniques and with travelling on false documentation.
The Attorney General's office said it would appeal the ruling. It is thought the three would be released from the Bogota prison where they are being held once they have paid fines of about $7,000 each.
But they will not be able to leave Colombia while the case is under appeal, a spokeswoman for the Attorney General's office said.
Among the key issues in the trial was the reliability or otherwise of alleged former members of the FARC who claimed to have seen the three men training the guerrillas.
This was strongly disputed by the defence who produced numerous witnesses who testified that they met or saw the accused men in Ireland or Cuba on the dates when they were alleged to be training the FARC.
The Colombian Vice-President Francisco Santos faced protests and parliamentary criticism when in Dublin last month over the case and met with the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, and the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen.
McCauley was given 36 months and 18 days, Monaghan 44 months and Connolly 26 months.
All three are obliged to 50 months legal salary as bail. This is the equivilent of approximately €6,000. The judge must decide then if McCauley and Monaghan will walk free as the men have only served approximately 32 months in prison on remand. Connolly has been in prison for longer than today's sentence and so will go free automatically.
Senator Mary White welcomed the ruling. She told ireland.com after the ruling: "This is a great tribute to the Colombian judicial system" that the judge didn't come under any pressure.
Sinn Féin North Belfast MLA, Mr Gerry Kelly, welcomed the verdict but said there was a lot of anger that the process had taken so long
"Today's verdict...will come as a huge relief to the men's families and friends and to those who have been campaigning for their release for almost three years now.
"Despite the obvious collapse of the prosecution case last year it was never certain that the men would be released and sent home, there was always a concern due to the pressure on the Judge from the Colombian government and the military."