Irishman accused of terrorist links remanded in custody in Lithuania
A court in Lithuania last week refused to release an Irishman suspected of links with a splinter Republican group.
The country’s appeals court upheld a previous ruling that the man, identified by his initials MC under the court’s confidentiality rules, must stay behind in jail for two more months.
It maintained that there were sufficient grounds to keep him in custody as, without any permanent address or source of income, he was liable to leave the country.
The court also stated that the investigation was currently moving slowly because Lithuania was awaiting the extradition from Ireland of the man’s brother, who is also a suspect.
MC was arrested in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius in January on suspicion of involvement with a breakaway faction of the Real IRA. A Lithuanian police officer posed as an arms dealer and apprehended the man, who was allegedly intending to negotiate an arms deal.
For legal reasons, the court did not confirm that MC is Michael Campbell, brother of Liam Campbell, an alleged leader of the Real IRA. Michael Campbell was previously reported in the Irish and Lithuanian media as having been arrested while meeting a supposed arms dealer in Vilnius last January.
The family of Michael Campbell claim he is being held in “inhuman” conditions in Lithuania. According to the so-called Irish Freedom Committee, Campbell is being held in a cell with three other prisoners, none of whom speak any English and who spend their time smoking drugs. The only toilet is a hole in the ground and the prison food is inedible, they claim.
