Court enters not guilty plea for Julian Flohr in IRA membership trial

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

The Special Criminal Court entered a not guilty plea on behalf of Julian Flohr after he made no reply to an IRA membership charge. The proceedings were reported on 15 November 2018.

Flohr, 37, and Damhan McFadden, 29, both of County Sligo, were charged with membership of an unlawful organisation styling itself the Irish Republican Army, otherwise Oglaigh na hEireann, otherwise the IRA, on 14 August 2016. McFadden pleaded not guilty.

Presiding judge Mr Justice Tony Hunt said the court would treat Flohr’s silence as a not guilty plea and answer on his behalf. He sat with Judge Sinéad Ní Chúlacháin and Judge Cormac Dunne.

Opening the prosecution case, Fiona Murphy SC said gardaí stopped the men in a car in the Dromahair area of County Leitrim on the evening of 14 August 2016. The court heard that a Spiderman-themed backpack was found behind the driver’s seat. Murphy said it was later established that the device inside was a mortar round, but it had no primary cartridge.

Both men denied knowledge of the backpack. Garda Eamonn McDonnell told the court that Flohr was in the passenger seat and that he found the backpack during a search of the car.

The non-jury trial was continuing and was expected to last three weeks.

This case may have concluded differently. The outcome has not yet been confirmed by a public source we could find.