SAOIRSE32

Belfast Telegraph
Friday, 10 October 2008

Once again a major court case in Northern Ireland has collapsed in spectacular fashion.

Chris Ward, the Northern Bank employee accused of being the inside man in the theft of £26.5m from the bank at Christmas four years ago, was cleared of all charges after the Crown case imploded. It was made evident from the beginning that the case against Mr Ward was circumstantial.

A crucial part of the case against him was that he manipulated the staff rota on the day of the robbery to create the circumstances which made it possible. However, the court was told that the change in rota was a chance decision by management. An already flimsy case was terminally damaged and the Crown had no option but to decline to offer any further evidence.

For Mr Ward the dropping of the court case is the end of a three-year ordeal. He was originally detained for questioning for longer than any other suspect in Northern Ireland’s legal history as detectives tried to break his pleas of innocence. He was even bugged while on holiday abroad. Today he can say that his claims of innocence have been vindicated.

However the memory of the robbery will last long for both his family and his colleague Kevin McMullan and his wife Kyran. The Ward family were held hostage and Mrs McMullan was taken away from her family home to ensure that the two bank employees played their roles in getting the money out of the bank’s strongroom. Mrs McMullan’s testimony to the court was among the most dramatic ever heard in the province. Fearing that she was about to be killed she had pleaded with her kidnappers to ensure that her body was returned to her family. The robbery was carried out by a ruthless gang and it was a tremendous ordeal for those caught up in it.

The Provisional IRA was blamed for the robbery which almost brought the peace process crashing down. Only a small fraction of the stolen money — the largest bank robbery in UK history — has ever been recovered. Although two other men were charged in relation to the robbery, charges against them were dropped before they ever reached trial stage.

The failure of the case against Mr Ward, following on from the failure to convict anyone for the Omagh bombing or to gain convictions against those accused in relation to the murder of Robert McCartney is another huge embarrassment for the police and for the Public Prosecution Service.

Many people will now question both the quality of the investigations into these three high profile cases and the judgment of the PPS in bringing people to court, even if trial judges had vindicated the decision to prosecute. It has to be accepted that cases with paramilitary overtones are notoriously difficult to crack — often witnesses are reluctant to come forward and perpetrators are adept at leaving few, if any, forensic clues. However the failure to obtain any convictions undermines confidence in the whole justice system.

Now we await clarification from the PSNI on where its investigation into the robbery now stands. According to the evidence given to the court, the robbery was carried out by a large number of people who were prepared to inflict violence on their captors. Those people are still out there but it looks increasingly unlikely that they will ever stand in the dock.

4ni.co.uk
10 October 2008

Police are appealing for witnesses after a man was shot in both legs in the Creeslough Park area of West Belfast.

The incident was reported to police at 10pm on Thursday. The man was taken to hospital, although his injuries are not thought to be life threatening.

Police would like to speak to anyone who was in the area at the time of the shooting or who has witnessed a yellow Hyundai car being driven suspiciously.

BBC

An investigation into the Omagh bomb is to be debated in the Northern Ireland Assembly on Tuesday.

The Alliance Party motion calls for a legally binding cross-border investigation, not a full inquiry as relatives of some of the victims want.

The 1998 Real IRA car bomb killed 29 people.

Party leader David Ford said “the people of Omagh have a right to know the full facts” about the attack.

“This bombing resulted in the biggest loss of life throughout the whole of the Troubles and any right-thinking person should support this call for total disclosure of all information about the incident,” he said.

“Clarity and a full account of events are the least that those affected by the bomb deserve.”

The Alliance motion calls for a process “designed to secure full disclosure from the intelligence services and security forces in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, to establish what relevant information they had before and immediately after the attack”.

Michael Gallagher, chairman of the Omagh support and self-help group, said a public inquiry into the attack was important to everyone “on the island of Ireland and beyond”.

“We should learn what was done well and what was not done well, and those lessons should be passed on to others so that we are better prepared for any future terrorist attack or disaster,” he said.

“The inquiry should never take away from those who were responsible for planning and preparing this evil act.”

**Received via email from Italy 32CSM

Special on Ireland – An interview with Saoirse Harte, spokesperson in Italy for the 32CSM, the Republicans who refused the sell-out to London

Repression, arrests, sectarianism, discrimination. Words that, hearing them daily embedded in half the world, would offer nothing other than a memory of The Occupied Six and above all of Irish nationalists. Even more it would mean far more memories for people of Dublin and the Republic of Ireland. Unfortunately it is not like that. Tension is on the agenda and Ireland, both North and South, is everything but at peace. There isn’t only Sinn Fein in the Green Island. There isn’t only “the patinated” peace of the Stormont government signed with the English. There are also political movements and parties that still fight for independence and the Irish unity, without an English presence.

Ireland is living a dramatic moment. A Republican prisoner in Portlaoise Gaol is risking the amputation of a foot and perhaps even worse because the Irish authorities deny him the possibility of visiting and help from an expert in an external structure. We talked to Saoirse Harte, the spokesperson in Italy of the 32 County Sovereignty Movement about this and other issues.

Q. First of all let’s talk about Aidan Hulme, the Irish prisoner who in this moment in grave danger in Portlaoise Gaol.

A. Aidan was arrested and imprisoned in England in 2003 for the London BBC bomb in March 2001 with two other people. It should be pointed out that there was no direct evidence to link Aidan to the bomb but a series of suggestive evidence linking them to a political group. At that point we mobilized with protests and petitions to have these three people repatriated to Ireland, inasmuch as European citizens they have the right of being moved to a gaol closer to home in order to facilitate the family visits. Of the three, only Aidan and his brother were repatriated in 2006.

Q. Was Aidan already injured when he was incarcerated in the UK?

A. Yes, Aidan had a horrible motorbike accident before being arrested and was undergoing treatment when incarcerated. When he was sent to Gaol in England he was denied medical Treatment and his situation got worse. Then in 2004 we protested against the negligence of the English doctors. What’s worse is that once he was repatriated he was still denied treatment!

Q. When did the situation get to be alarming?

A. In February of this year the situation became more and more alarming. During a recent medical visit, the doctor found that Aidan’s toes had turned black and the doctor fears gangrene. The doctor has asked the Prison Governor to let Aidan see a specialist. The director said that he Aidan’s case would have had the maximum priority, but still no provision has been taken. Aidan is currently taking twenty-one pills a day for the pain and the use of morphine patches has become necessary. His skin has turned yellow which indicates liver damage due to all the medication that he is taking. Currently Aidan is bedridden 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Q. What has been organised?

A. Other than protests, we have started a letter writing petition to the Justice Minister Dermot Ahern for immediate action. I have spoken personally with the Minister’s office but have been fobbed off with the most banal of excuses as have many others. And no progress has been made.

Q. This absurd situation is very similar to what happened to Kevin Murray, isn’t it?

A. Exactly. Kevin was a prisoner in the same Gaol arrested for political reasons. He had continuing headaches, he was not well, he asked for a doctor and he was systematically denied his right to medical treatment. When he was finally allowed to see a doctor, the only thing left to do for him was to send him to a hospice to die because of a massive brain tumour. Maybe the outcome would have been the same, but he had the right to medical treatment. That was 2001. Nobody has been brought to justice for Kevin’s death. After seven years we find ourselves front of a very similar situation, Aidan is risking his life and it seems that no one cares. Republicans are treated like second class citizens by the Irish government.

Q. Tell us about you movement, the 32CSM

A. We are not a political party, but a movement because we do not present ourselves for elections; we do not recognise them as valid and official. We fight for a Free Sovereign Ireland. Our objectives are National Irish Sovereignty, Republican unity and the promotion of the revolutionary ideals of Republicanism. We also demand the immediate and unconditional release for all Irish political prisoners in the world. In the United States as an example there is a prisoner who awaits trail 25 years after his ‘offence’, not being an American citizen and being a Republican.

Q. When was your movement founded?

A. Most of our founding members came from within Sinn Fein and within Sinn Fein there was a committee called the 32 County Sovereignty Committee. In 1997, with the peace talks with the English, the party split. On the 7th December of that year there was a meeting of the activists who had left Sinn Fein because of their sell-out to England. For an English Treaty. And that night the 32CSM was founded. The year after, in 1998, we have sent a legal submission to the UN asking them not to recognise the GFA Referendum, inasmuch as English did not have the right to organize it and it also questioned the British Soverenity in Ireland.

Q. Is the 32CSM a 32 County Movement?

A. Yes, the movement is present in all the 32 counties of Ireland with activists. We are also in England and Italy as international lobby groups. Other than representing the republican cause, we are very active in Social work and work against drugs in our communities and anti-social behaviour as it has no place in society. Obviously also we are also busy working against the Lisbon Treaty.

Q. What is the current situation in Ireland?

A. North and South it’s a difficult situation. In the North the police continue to use the same methods and with a biconfessional government and nothing has changed. For this reason many people are leaving Sinn Fein, which is always further away from its’ grassroots. Republicans are furthering themselves from Sinn Fein who seem to be more interested in being part of a foreign government in Ireland. There is also internment by remand where republican activists are arrested and put in gaol for long periods of time with no evidence against them other than the fact they are Republicans and the word of a police officer this is a serious danger for all Republicans. We also have the use of the Special Criminal Court, a court which is in contravention of Human Rights as set out by the EU and for every seating is fined around €10,000 by Brussels. It should be noted that the Irish government pays this fine in advance, doesn’t it seem strange to you to pay a fine in advance?

Q. Last question. Is there any position with other Pro Independence groups in Ireland?

A. Yes, there is the Republican Network for Unity, a grouping where ex POWs are present, IRSP (Irish Republican Socialist Party) and other independent republicans. In other words, unity is open to all those who have not accepted the sell-out to the English and that continue to resist.

Tommaso Della Longa

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