IRA boss Liam Campbell in clear after Lithuanian court upholds decision to drop terror charges

The notorious dissident was extradited from Ireland to Lithuania last May to face charges related to weapons smuggling for the Real IRA following more than a decade of legal challenges.

Vilnius District Court terminated the criminal case against him in September after accepting defence submissions that the statute of limitations expired in January 2018.

The statute of limitations for the offence had changed from 10 to 15 years in the period of time since the crime was committed.

However, prosecutors argued the statute of limitations should have been 15 years and appealed the decision to the Court of Appeal.

Campbell, who had been allowed to return to Ireland following the District Court verdict, went to Lithuania for the Court of Appeal decision last Friday week.

The appeal court agreed with the lower court’s ruling that the statute of limitations was 10 years and had expired in 2018.

Campbell’s lawyer Inga Botyriene said she believes the ruling means Campbell had been persecuted without grounds for the last five years.

“The criminal proceedings against Liam Campbell have been finally concluded and he will no longer be prosecuted in the criminal procedure in the Republic of Lithuania for the crime he was accused of.

“In addition, the procedural decisions made by the Lithuanian court allow us to state that Liam Campbell has been persecuted in the criminal procedure for the last five years completely without grounds and illegally, and his extradition from Ireland to the Republic of Lithuania was also illegal.”

The court also dismissed terror charges against co-accused Brendan McGuigan (43) from Omeath, Co Louth, who was not present in court but was represented by a legal team.

The High Court in Dublin previously refused McGuigan’s extradition due to prison conditions in Lithuania

Campbell was one of the founding members of the Real IRA and was sentenced to eight years by the Special Criminal Court for membership of the organisation in 2004.

While he was never convicted in relation to the Omagh bomb — which killed 29 people and unborn twins in 1998 — he was one of four men found liable for the atrocity in a civil case.

He was first arrested in relation to the Lithuanian charges in 2009 but had fought several legal battles to prevent his extradition.

He returned to Ireland last September after the court ruling on the statute of limitations.

In a European Arrest Warrant, the Lithuanian authorities alleged that while acting in an organised terrorist group, the Real Irish Republican Army (RIRA), Campbell made arrangements to acquire a substantial number of firearms and explosives from Lithuania and smuggle them into Ireland.

It was further alleged that at the end of 2006 to 2007 Campbell made arrangements with others to travel to Lithuania for the purposes of acquiring firearms and explosives, including automatic rifles, sniper guns, projectors, detonators, timers and TNT.

It was alleged he asked British cigarette smuggler Robert Jardine to set up a contact with a Lithuanian arms dealer to supply the weapons to the Real IRA.

However, Jardine had been recruited years earlier to work for the British spy agency MI5.

Jardine, who has since gone into witness protection, alleged he met dissidents including Campbell to discuss the plot.

Campbell was arrested in May 2009 on a European Arrest Warrant in relation to the Lithuanian charges and spent four years in Maghaberry Prison before being released in 2013 after the Belfast Recorders Court refused to approve his extradition, saying he could be exposed to inhuman and degrading conditions while in prison in Lithuania.

He was arrested in Dundalk on December 2, 2016, on foot of the second European Arrest Warrant.

Both the High Court and Court of Appeal ordered that he be extradited.

He appealed those findings and the length of time those appeals took meant the statute of limitations had expired by the time Campbell was finally extradited last year.