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A LITHUANIAN APPEALS court has overturned the conviction of an Irishman charged with plotting to smuggle arms from the Baltic state to the Real IRA paramilitary group.
It cited a lack of evidence for its decision.
Michael Campbell was sentenced to 12 years in prison in 2011, but has long insisted he was framed by British intelligence.
An appeals court judge in Vilnius struck down the sentence, and said there was no evidence linking Campbell with the Real IRA.
“State institutions have not provided evidence that would rule out his (Campbell’s) claim that he was framed by MI5 agents,” Judge Viktoras Kazys said, before ordering Campbell’s release from custody.
“It was impossible to comprehensively explore the case when British and Irish institutions refused to cooperate with Lithuanian courts and prosecutors,” he added.
Lithuanian prosecutors will now appeal the verdict with the Supreme Court.
After the ruling, a smiling Campbell told AFP he planned “to go home” to Ireland, but refused further comment.
“The court defended the basic principle that the state cannot create a crime and then convict a person for it,” his lawyer Ingrida Botyriene noted.
His release has been welcomed by an inter-party group including deputies Maureen O’Sullivan, Clare Daly, Martin Ferris and Eamon O Cuív.
“We met Mr. Campbell in prison and it was clear that not only were there serious concerns over his conviction, but that he had spent over five years in poor, over-crowded and inhumane conditions,” they said in a statement issued by Sinn Féin’s press office this evening.
“We are therefore delighted for Mr Campbell and his family, and hope that the can rebuild his life on his return to Ireland.”
Background
Campbell was sentenced to 12 years behind bars by a district court in 2011 for attempted smuggling, aiding a terrorist group and illegal possession of arms.
But he appealed, arguing there was no evidence backing up the testimony of a main witness for the prosecution identified in court as a smuggler and British agent.
The 41-year-old Irishman has also long denied being a member of the Real IRA, a dissident group.
His brother Liam was one of four Real IRA leaders found liable by a civil court for the 1998 bombing of Omagh in which 29 people were killed.
Campbell was arrested in 2008 in Vilnius when he met a Lithuanian agent posing as an arms dealer.
Citing an intelligence service witness, prosecutors insisted Campbell enquired about explosives to blast a bullet-proof government car.
The Real Irish Republican Army broke with the Provisional IRA in 1997 over its support for a peace deal with London.
- © AFP 2013.
Additional reporting by Sinéad O’Carroll
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And how much will church pay?
The church should pay the entire bill
I believe that the Religious have a strangle hold over the Health and School System; it is very unlikely that the Government will take legal action against their Landlords? As far as I know they still haven’t finished paying their agreed share from the 2002 Indemnity Deal to pay for Abuse in the Irish Industrial Schools
Surely the bill should be sent to the Vatican?
That’s an insult to these women. You’d be waiting for the Vatican to pay until kingdom come. Give them they’re money and let them get on with their lives.
Correction. State to pay €250,000.
The government gives 638 euros of our money to Africa every year. Where do it go ? Who gets it? They even saw fit to give 7 million euro to Libya. 250,000.? Insulting !
The Irish Psychiatric Profession should also apologise to Magdalene victims.
The Psychiatric profession colluded with the Catholic Church in incarcerating thousands of innocent Irish Women and Men for ” unacceptable, deviant behaviour” – ie. being a Single Mother or being a Homosexual in the Fifties and Sixties. Many lives were ruined by these guys ordering Lobotomies, Freezing Insulin Baths and Electric Shock Treatments on many healthy people.
When will the media scrutinise the numerous abuses by Consultant Psychiatrists ? We know of several cases involving these so called pillars of the Community locking innocent people up in return for large cash payments . They remain above the Law and when they get a diagnosis wrong, the unfortunate patient has no opportunity for redress. They intimidate and bully. Have any of these arrogant elitists ever apologised for the sins committed in the name of their professional research ?
We now know, thanks to great work, by the late Mary Rafferty that these abuses were/are still happening recently in Waterford and other Institutions. Doctor Dennis Lane O’ Kelly has been named in the excellent RTE documentary, ‘Behind the Walls’. Yet those who knew about this and other abuses are still employed by the HSE. Do these experts on all aspects of human nature really expect us to believe that they knew nothing about the sexual abuse of vulnerable people being instigated by one of their colleagues, Dr. Lane O’ Kelly ?
How much did the state give to the soldiers who were actually paid to do their work …..
That should read we give 638 million euro to Africa every or rather our government borrows and gives this huge amount on our behalf. Charity begins athome and 250,000 is a derisory sum
The catholic church should pay the bill. It sickens me that womens rights were violated in this way. Did the european union know this was going on? How did they get away with it
250,000 Given to this unheard of Centre, before the 3 Month audit of need they seem to think is required!! WHY??
On closer Scrutiny this Centre Does Not Exist??
Funding of Survivors Groups in Ireland has been very Controversial! Have they Learned NOTHING?
No doubt it will be London Based, as if there are only Survivors in London?
This is the Group that will receive the money http://www.irishsurvivorsuk.org.uk/
If this money is to paid immediately to a Project that does not exist?
For needs that haven’t been assessed yet?
I would like to know
“What Fund/Budget is this Money to be drawn from?”
HELP US MAGDALENES WHAT WITH A CUP OF TEA OR COFFEE ..I DONT THINK SO ITS A SHAM ..TO SUDDENLY CROP UP WITH NO HISTORY ITS A SUSPICIOUS ORGANISATION ..I FOR ONE WILL SKIP IT I CAN MAKE MY OWN TEA ..WHERE HAVE THOSE DO GOODERS BEEN WHEN SOME OF US LAY DYING FROM OVERDOSES AND ON LIFE SUPPORTS ..WHERE WERE THOSE DO GOODERS AND SO CALLED COUNCILLARS ..WHEN WE NEEDED THEM …I DONT WANT THEM NO THEY CAN SUCK IT UP BUTTERCUPS
can someone in the Irish Government pray tell just WHY ?? is that Woman in London getting another lot of funding £250,000 for a service THAT DOES NOT EXIST??? are they all insane
it is from the compansation that was supposed to be for the survivors, this Group in London and other so called Groups in the UK and Ireland surported by the irish State have been recieving Funding using survivors names saying they surport survivors and offer services to them ,(NOT ) those so called Groups are only interested in keeping themselves and their friends in their well paid JOB’s >While the real survivors have been IGNORED and BULLIED into SILENCE , they help survivors > Pig’s might Fly. It’s another CON
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