"The only man convicted over the 1998 'Real IRA' Omagh bomb has had his conviction overturned, while two Garda police detectives are to be tried for perjury.
Colm Murphy was sentenced to 14 years over the attack, which claimed 31 lives but remains mired in controversy and confusion over the motives and actions of police on both sides of the border."
"Meanwhile, Detective Garda John Fahy and Detective Garda Liam Donnelly were charged with falsely swearing evidence."
The Republican Sinn Fein vice-president, Des Dalton, said:
"Republican Sinn Fein welcomes the Dublin Court of Criminal Appeal's quashing today of Colm Murphy's conviction and 14-year sentence by the non-jury Special Criminal Court.
"The fact that the non-jury Special Criminal Court was willing to convict Colm Murphy based on evidence which it is unlikely would have been accepted by a conventional court, as well as infringing his right to presumption of innocence, highlights the assault on basic human and civil rights which the non-jury Special Court and the draconian Offences Against the State Act represent.
"In its most recent observations on the 26-county State's human rights record in 2000," Mr Dalton added, "the UN Human Rights Committee called on the Dublin Government to dismantle the non-jury Special Criminal Court. Despite this, the Dublin Government announced in December that it intended opening a second non-jury Special Criminal Court."
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