The arrest of an independent republican candidate accused of attempted murder was an abuse of the democratic process and a return to the "dark days" of political policing, the man's lawyer argued today.
Police relied on evidence gathered in 1994 and statements from two witnesses to charge Gerry McGeough (46), and Vincent McAnespie (44), with attempting to shoot dead a part-time Ulster Defence Regiment soldier in June 1981.
Mr McGeough, a former Sinn Féin member who stood unsuccessfully for election to the Assembly as an independent republican, and Mr McAnespie, husband of a Monaghan Sinn Féin councillor, were arrested within an hour of each other last Thursday.
Mr McGeough's lawyer told Enniskillen Magistrates Court: "It shows that the evidence in this case is completely untenable, it is a political prosecution. "(The investigating officer) knows that there is no evidence from 1994 and that there is no case. If there was no case in 1994, and there was no case in 1981, then there is no case today."
Standing for Fermanagh and South Tyrone, Mr McGeough conducted a high profile election campaign that netted only 814 votes in the recent Assembly elections. He was arrested when he left the Omagh counting centre.
Mr McAnespie was arrested near his home.
Both men deny three charges of attempting to murder former soldier Sammy Brush - now a Democratic Unionist councillor in Tyrone; conspiracy to murder; and possession of two revolvers and ammunition with the intent to endanger life.
Both men were remanded in custody to appear at Dungannon Magistrates Court on April 4th.