A man suspected of trying to buy arms in Lithuania for an Irish Republican Army (IRA) splinter group that has returned violently to the spotlight was scheduled to go on trial in the Baltic state yesterday.
Michael Campbell, a 36-year-old Irish citizen who is a brother of a senior Real IRA commander, has been behind bars for 19 months since being snared in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius.
Prosecutors in the ex-Soviet republic accuse him of attempting to obtain weapons illegally and aiding a terrorist organization. The crimes carry sentences of up to eight years, and 20 years, respectively.
His lawyers claim the case is groundless.
“The defense regards as insufficient the evidence produced by the prosecution,” said Ingrida Botyriene, one of Campbell’s Lithuanian lawyers.
She refused to elaborate.
Campbell was arrested in Vilnius in January last year while meeting with an undercover Lithuanian agent who reportedly offered him weapons. His wife, Fiona Duffy, was also detained but released four months later.
His supporters claim Campbell — who reportedly has a criminal record for tobacco-smuggling — was in Vilnius to buy cigarettes and was set up by British intelligence working with the Lithuanians.
One group, the Irish Republican Prisoners Welfare Association, dubs him a “hostage” and a “prisoner of war.”
His supporters also complain he is barred from contacting his family, is being held with three inmates who do not speak English and regularly take drugs, and that the cell lights are switched off as part of Lithuania’s anti-recession drive.
The Real IRA is a splinter group of the Provisional IRA.
Four people jailed in the landmark Hong Kong national security trial of "47 democrats" accused of conspiracy to commit subversion were freed today after more than four years behind bars, the second group to be released in a month. Among those freed was long-time political and LGBTQ activist Jimmy Sham (岑子杰), who also led one of Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy groups, the Civil Human Rights Front, which disbanded in 2021. "Let me spend some time with my family," Sham said after arriving at his home in the Kowloon district of Jordan. "I don’t know how to plan ahead because, to me, it feels
Poland is set to hold a presidential runoff election today between two candidates offering starkly different visions for the country’s future. The winner would succeed Polish President Andrzej Duda, a conservative who is finishing his second and final term. The outcome would determine whether Poland embraces a nationalist populist trajectory or pivots more fully toward liberal, pro-European policies. An exit poll by Ipsos would be released when polls close today at 9pm local time, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points. Final results are expected tomorrow. Whoever wins can be expected to either help or hinder the
North Korea has detained another official over last week’s failed launch of a warship, which damaged the naval destroyer, state media reported yesterday. Pyongyang announced “a serious accident” at Wednesday last week’s launch ceremony, which crushed sections of the bottom of the new destroyer. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called the mishap a “criminal act caused by absolute carelessness.” Ri Hyong-son, vice department director of the Munitions Industry Department of the Party Central Committee, was summoned and detained on Sunday, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported. He was “greatly responsible for the occurrence of the serious accident,” it said. Ri is the fourth person
The collapse of the Swiss Birch glacier serves as a chilling warning of the escalating dangers faced by communities worldwide living under the shadow of fragile ice, particularly in Asia, experts said. Footage of the collapse on Wednesday showed a huge cloud of ice and rubble hurtling down the mountainside into the hamlet of Blatten. Swiss Development Cooperation disaster risk reduction adviser Ali Neumann said that while the role of climate change in the case of Blatten “still needs to be investigated,” the wider impacts were clear on the cryosphere — the part of the world covered by frozen water. “Climate change and
RSS