32 County Sovereignty Movement
23/07/2009
Justice seen to be done in the case of Munster Republicans.
The 32 County Sovereignty Movement welcome the fact that justice appears to have been served after three judges sitting at the Special Criminal Court ruled that four Republicans from the province of Munster could not be retried on charges that were quashed last May .
Not content with this application of justice the Director of Public Prosecutions, no doubt guided by voices on high, sought to have the four men, Ciaran O Dwyer, Gerard Varian, John Murphy, Aidan O Driscoll and a fifth man, Ultan Larkin who also had the charges of membership of Óglaigh na hÉireann Quashed last may, retried on the same charges. All this despite the fact that Aidan O Driscoll spent three years interned on remand in Portlaoise whilst the four other men spent various periods interned and on strict bail conditions for up to five years.
The 32 County Sovereignty Movement believe that there was no grounds to charge these men in the first place in December 2003 and that what they have gone through in the intervening five years is nothing short of serious political harassment and a wholesale attack on their civil liberties. We have no doubt that these charges were an attempt to thwart the legitimate political activity of Republicans in the Munster area which has witnessed growth in the last number of years.
Whilst the 32 County Sovereignty Movement welcome this ruling we do not hold out much hope for the administration of what passes for justice in the 26 counties being applied in an even handed manner where Republicans are concerned. It is worth noting that many other Republicans are still being held on charges of membership which do not require the state to reveal evidence other than the word of a chief superintendent. Such blatantly anti democratic practices are an invitation for serious human rights abuses of Republicans by the state in their defence of and support for Britain’s illegal sovereign claim to the occupied six north-eastern counties of Ireland.
23/07/2009
Justice seen to be done in the case of Munster Republicans.
The 32 County Sovereignty Movement welcome the fact that justice appears to have been served after three judges sitting at the Special Criminal Court ruled that four Republicans from the province of Munster could not be retried on charges that were quashed last May .
Not content with this application of justice the Director of Public Prosecutions, no doubt guided by voices on high, sought to have the four men, Ciaran O Dwyer, Gerard Varian, John Murphy, Aidan O Driscoll and a fifth man, Ultan Larkin who also had the charges of membership of Óglaigh na hÉireann Quashed last may, retried on the same charges. All this despite the fact that Aidan O Driscoll spent three years interned on remand in Portlaoise whilst the four other men spent various periods interned and on strict bail conditions for up to five years.
The 32 County Sovereignty Movement believe that there was no grounds to charge these men in the first place in December 2003 and that what they have gone through in the intervening five years is nothing short of serious political harassment and a wholesale attack on their civil liberties. We have no doubt that these charges were an attempt to thwart the legitimate political activity of Republicans in the Munster area which has witnessed growth in the last number of years.
Whilst the 32 County Sovereignty Movement welcome this ruling we do not hold out much hope for the administration of what passes for justice in the 26 counties being applied in an even handed manner where Republicans are concerned. It is worth noting that many other Republicans are still being held on charges of membership which do not require the state to reveal evidence other than the word of a chief superintendent. Such blatantly anti democratic practices are an invitation for serious human rights abuses of Republicans by the state in their defence of and support for Britain’s illegal sovereign claim to the occupied six north-eastern counties of Ireland.
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