Liam Campbell

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This article is about the alleged volunteer in the Real Irish Republican Army. For other people with the same name, see Liam Campbell (disambiguation).

Liam Campbell is an Irish republican from Dundalk, County Louth. He was found liable under civil proceedings for the 1998 Omagh bombing, which killed 29 people.

Graffiti in Limerick in support of Campbell

Family

His brother Sean died in December 1975, when a landmine he was preparing for an attack on the British Army exploded prematurely. Another brother, Peter, served 14 years in prison for Provisional Irish Republican Army offenses. Yet another brother, Michael, went on trial in Vilnius, Lithuania, accused of trying to purchase arms and explosives for the Real IRA,[1] was found guilty and sentenced to twelve years in jail, a conviction that was overturned with the defendant acquitted upon the completion of a retrial in 2013, largely due to the defence's argument that Michael was the subject of entrapment, by MI5 agents.[2][3][4]

Paramilitary career

Liam Campbell first came to the attention of the British and Irish security forces in the early 1980s and became the subject of an exclusion order in 1983 barring him from entering Northern Ireland.[5][6]

Omagh bombing

Campbell was named by the BBC as one of the perpetrators of the 1998 Omagh bombing in a Panorama documentary.[6] He never faced criminal charges but was found liable for the bombing in a civil trial, along with Michael McKevitt, Colm Murphy and Seamus Daly.[7] The case, brought by relatives of the 29 victims, resulted in an award of combined damages of over £1.5m.[8] He was believed to be a member of the Real IRA army council during the bombing.[9] The damages were never paid.

Imprisonment

In May 2004, Campbell was convicted by a court in the Republic of Ireland for membership of the Real IRA and was sentenced to eight years imprisonment.[10] In May 2009, he was arrested following the issue of a European Arrest Warrant at the behest of the Lithuanian authorities, where he was wanted in connection with a gun running plot which saw his brother Michael arrested. Campbell remained in prison for four years and was released in 2013 following the decision of Belfast Recorders Court to deny Campbell's extradition to Lithuania. The court ruled that "[Campbell] was likely to be held in conditions which would be inhuman and degrading."[11][12] In July 2021, a court in Ireland denied his appeal against extradition to Lithuania for several arms smuggling charges after nearly 12 years of legal battles.[13] In October 2022, the Lithuanian court announced that Campbell was returning home after all charges against him were dropped due to a statute of limitations expiry.[14]

References

  1. ^ "Vilnius 'Real IRA' trial to open". BBC News. 18 August 2009. Retrieved 18 August 2009.
  2. ^ "Michael Campbell Released From Prison In Lithuania". Archived from the original on 26 July 2014. Retrieved 16 July 2014.
  3. ^ "Lithuanian court clears Irishman in Real IRA case". Archived from the original on 26 July 2014.
  4. ^ "Michael Campbell freed by Lithuanian court". RTÉ.ie. 2 October 2013.
  5. ^ "Dáil Éireann - Volume 345 - 25 October, 1983". Archived from the original on 7 June 2011. Retrieved 12 February 2007.
  6. ^ a b Hopkins, Nick (27 July 2002). "The five suspects families want to bring to court". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 12 February 2007.
  7. ^ The men sued by the Omagh families, BBC News, Monday, 8 June 2009.
  8. ^ "Four found liable for Omagh bomb". RTÉ News. 8 June 2009. Retrieved 8 June 2009.
  9. ^ "Omagh bomb legal victory: The men behind worst atrocity of the Troubles". Belfasttelegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 17 April 2018 – via www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk.
  10. ^ "Omagh bombings case: the European Court of Human Rights gets it wrong, again". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 24 April 2014. Retrieved 21 November 2014.
  11. ^ "Extradition bid Omagh bomber is free again - BelfastTelegraph.co.uk". BelfastTelegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  12. ^ "COURT RULES EXTRADITION WOULD BREACH ARTICLE 3 OF THE EUROPEAN CONVENTION ON HUMAN RIGHTS". Belfast Recorders Court. 16 January 2013. Archived from the original on 22 December 2015.
  13. ^ "Liam Campbell: Omagh suspect to be extradited to Lithuania over Real IRA weapons". BBC News. 28 July 2021. Retrieved 25 September 2021.
  14. ^ "Omagh bomb suspect Liam Campbell back in Ireland after terror charges dramatically dropped in Lithuania".


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