The three Irishmen accused of training Colombian rebels have made their final pleas in a courthouse in Bogota.
Up to now, Mr James Monaghan, Mr Martin McCauley and Mr Niall Connolly had refused to come to court, claiming they could not get a fair trial in Colombia because of the highly political nature of the charges.
They each spoke for around five minutes from prepared scripts, during which they denied training members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, arguing they were in the country to observe the peace process. They also said they fully supported the Northern Ireland peace process.
"In the summer of 2001, we travelled to Colombia principally to see the peace process but also to enjoy a holiday," contended Mr Monaghan. "The charge of training the FARC is a false charge, based on false evidence."
Mr Connolly, who lived in Cuba for several years where he served as the Latin American representative for Sinn Féin, said he was invited to join the trip to Colombia because he spoke Spanish.
He said his interest in Latin America dated back to the 1980s when he spent time working with ex-combatants in Nicaragua and El Salvador, and he wanted to see the peace process in Colombia.
The defendants acknowledged they travelled on false passports but said past persecution for their political involvement in the Irish peace process made that necessary. All denied they were members of the IRA.
The terrorism trial is now in its ninth month. Once hearings end this week, Judge Jairo Acosta Acosta has 15 working days to decide the men's fate.
The three man were arrested in August 2001 at Bogota's airport after visiting a FARC stronghold. They were travelling with false passports when they were arrested.
Prosecutors have said the evidence presented leaves no doubt that the men trained rebels in terrorist tactics in the jungles of southern Colombia.
Prosecution witnesses claim the men tested weapons and trained FARC rebels in terrorist tactics while at the stronghold.
The charge of training the FARC in IRA bomb-making techniques carries a sentence of up to 24 years. The lesser charge of using false passports carries a sentence of two to eight years.
The three men have been held in a succession of Colombian prisons since their arrest on August 11th, 2001. They are currently in La Modelo prison, on the outskirts of Bogota. If convicted only on the passports charge and given the minimum two-year sentence, they could simply be deported back to Ireland.