Julian Flohr and Damhan McFadden go on trial for IRA membership

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

Julian Flohr and Damhan McFadden went on trial at the Special Criminal Court charged with membership of an unlawful organisation styling itself the Irish Republican Army, otherwise Oglaigh na hEireann, otherwise the IRA, on 14 August 2016. The proceedings were reported on 15 November 2018.

Flohr made no reply when the charge was put to him, and the court entered a not-guilty plea on his behalf. McFadden pleaded not guilty.

The court heard that the men were stopped in the Dromahair area of County Leitrim. Garda Eamonn McDonnell said he found a Spiderman-themed backpack in the car. Both men denied knowledge of the backpack. Prosecuting counsel Fiona Murphy SC said the device inside was later established to be a mortar round without a primary cartridge.

Murphy said the State’s case would include interviews, evidence of items with Republican links found in searches of the men’s homes, and association evidence. The trial was continuing before Mr Justice Tony Hunt, Judge Sinéad Ní Chúlacháin and Judge Cormac Dunne and was expected to last three weeks.