Man who spent 14 months in prison for IRA membership has conviction declared miscarriage of justice
NATIONAL NEWS
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A Louth man who spent 14 months in prison for IRA membership has had his conviction declared a miscarriage of justice after the Special Criminal court agreed there was a grave defect in the administration of justice brought about by agents of the State .
The non-jury court on Monday found that Garda Assistant Commissioner Michael O Sullivan, who gave evidence of his belief that Michael Connolly (47) was an IRA member, had made an unqualified assertion during the trial that none of the material he viewed that formed the basis of his belief was in the Book of Evidence against the accused man.
BREAKING: Dundalk man Michael Connolly convicted of IRA membership
Special Criminal Court rules Louth man was IRA member
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A 44-year-old Louth man has been convicted of IRA membership by the Special Criminal Court.
Michael Connolly, of Grange Drive in Dundalk, had been observed driving in convoy with another man, who was then found with two improvised explosive devices (IEDs).
Connolly had pleaded not guilty to membership of an unlawful organisation, styling itself Oglaigh na hEireann, otherwise the Irish Republican Army, otherwise the IRA, on December 16, 2014.
The three-judge, non-jury court had heard that Connolly and another man were seen together in the Ardee area that morning. They left the same house at the same time in two cars, and were then observed at a service station in Clonmellon, before both cars travelled in convoy to Mullingar.
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