BERLIN (AA) – A former suspected Irish Republican Army (IRA) member on Wednesday has admitted to playing a role in the attack on a British military base in Germany more than 20 years ago.
The 48-year-old Irish citizen, who was arrested in December, made his first court appearance in a regional court in the northwestern German city of Osnabruck.
In a statement read out by his attorney, the accused admitted to helping to install a mortar launcher used in the attack that targeted the British military facility in Osnabruck on June 28, 1996.
Nobody was killed or injured in the attack. Nearly 150 British soldiers were at the base at that time.
The suspect argued that he later distanced himself from violence, and “wholeheartedly” supported the peace process in Northern Ireland.
He did not reveal the names of accomplices who took part in the attack.
In 2003, regional court in the northern German city of Celle had sentenced Michael Dickson for his involvement in the 1996 bombing to six-and-a-half years in prison.
German prosecutors filed “attempted murder” charges against the suspect, who was believed to be a member of a splinter group,an “active service unit” of the Provisional Irish Republican Army.
The court has scheduled fourteen hearings for the next five months. It is not expected to rule before early December.
The suspect faces up to five years in prison if convicted of the charges. The IRA divided into separate, competing paramilitary groups in recent decades over differences on how to achieve a united Ireland independent from the United Kingdom.
Two of the groups, CIRA and the Real IRA, continue to carry out occasional extra-judicial killings of rival members.
A U.K. government review last year found a third branch, the Provisional IRA, continues to operate a command structure.
Britain and the United States consider all three branches to be terrorist organizations.
