High Court To Hear Fair Trial Challenge In Alleged Mosque Plot Case

The case for Karolis Peckauskas will be before the High Court next month.

A man who was arrested in Laois over an alleged right-wing plot to target a mosque says he can't get a fair trial due to the wording of the Explosives Act.

38 year old Karolis Peckauskas of Newfoundwell Road Drogheda in Louth was arrested on the 4th of November last year at O’Moore Place in Portlaoise and then charged for possession of explosive materials.

The Journal.ie is reporting the High Court is granting Peckauskas leave to challenge whether he can get a fair trial under the Act, which he claims contravenes his fundamental human rights.

He is yet to enter a plea in relation to the charge and intends to apply for bail for a third time.

In November, Peckauskas, who is a co-accused with another man, was refused bail at Portlaoise District Court and then again at the High Court in Cloverhill in December.

Co-accused Garrett Pollock, 35, with an address at Kilhorne Greene, Annalong, Co Down, was also refused bail.

At the bail hearing, the court heard a video recording had been made by four masked men indicating their intention to take violent action against specific targets as well as taking responsibility for an attack on a Galway mosque.

Pollock faces a charge of possession of explosives at O’Moore Place in Portlaoise, and of possessing explosives at an address at Kilhorne Green, in County Down.

Papers lodged by Peskaukas’ legal team claim that the wording of Section 4 of the Explosives Act places an unfair obligation on defendent to prove he is not morally culpable.

The case appears before the High Court again next month.

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