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Pat Finucane Anniversary

Friday February 12 marks the tenth anniversary of the murder of Pat Finucane after whom our centre is named. A number of events are planned in Ireland and abroad. Among others a petition calling for an independent international inquiry into Pat's murder will be presented to the Irish and British governments. The deadline for signatures (from lawyers only) is February 8. Please contact this office urgently if you have not yet signed. Full details of the petition are available on our website. To date over 1000 lawyers worldwide have signed up to the call. On Friday evening we will be holding a fundraiser for the Centre at the Village Inn here in Derry. Rosemary Nelson, a solicitor from Portadown, will speak at the function. Jeremy Hardy, a well known king of alternative comedy and political activist from England, will entertain with his own brand of incisive alternative humour while local group the Whole Tribe Sings will……sing.

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Bloody Sunday Weekend

Organisers are agreed that the 1999 annual commemorative weekend was one of the most important and useful in many years. The Saturday conference on the theme of State Violence-State the Truth brought together up to a hundred families who had lost loved ones through direct and indirect (collusion) state violence. The morning workshops in particular were at times harrowing, emotional and healing since families were offered, for many their first opportunity, to voice their experiences of the past thirty years of conflict. In the afternoon session it was agreed that a further conference should be organised later in the year. The event on Saturday evening allowed for international perspectives on the issue of the right to truth and acknowledgement of the need to remember all victims equally. As usual thousands turned out for the annual march the next day though one could be forgiven for believing that no march took place since the entire weekend was largely ignored by the media. RTE news bulletins on the Sunday omitted any mention of the 20,000 plus at the march.

Meanwhile a number of the soldiers due to be called to give evidence at the Bloody Sunday Inquiry later this year have filled for a judicial review in a London court of the decision to allow their names to be made public during the Inquiry. Solicitors for the Bloody Sunday families are angry at the interference of the English judiciary in the case arguing that any judicial review should be transferred to a Belfast court. The families have consistently argued that any proper inquiry must be international in order to gain their confidence. A full hearing will now take place in London on February 22. Should the soldiers be granted the right to maintain their anonymity by an English court the entire future of the Inquiry will be put at risk.

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Plastic Bullet Compensation Payouts

A Belfast court this week agreed compensation payments of £115,000, £12,500 and two further payments of £5000 to a total of four people injured by plastic bullets in July 1996 in Belfast. The highest settlement went to Michael Cosby, a 36 year old father of three who lost his eye when a member of the RUC fired directly at his face. Speaking after the court case Cosby said, "I have lost all my faith in the police service……these bullets should be outlawed." The identity of the RUC man who fired the plastic bullet is known but the Director of Public Prosecutions has failed (yet again) to prosecute. In one of the other cases it is clear that an attempted murder charge should be brought against the officer responsible whose identity is also known. As 25 year old Paul Morris walked past New Barnsley RUC barracks a voice called to him from the security sangar. When he turned a plastic bullet was fired at his face. Following the incident those RUC officers involved conspired to pervert the course of justice. Statements were altered, video evidence from the security cameras was not disclosed and the RUC attempted unsuccessfully to smear the injured man claiming that he was rioting. The entire episode again raises the issue which we at the centre pointed out to the Patton Commission when they visited our offices. Massive compensation payments are made following such incidents yet the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions has demonstrated criminal negligence in not pursuing prosecution of the officers involved. No member of the RUC has ever been successfully prosecuted following the clearly illegal use of these lethal weapons. Solicitors at Madden & Finucane however intend following up on a number of outstanding issues in the wake of the above cases.

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Seamus Ludlow Correction

In the last update we stated that the family of murdered Dundalk man Seamus Ludlow intend holding a public meeting in Dundalk Town Hall on February 17. The meeting will in fact take place on February 18 at 8pm.

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Loyalist Attacks

The latest series of sectarian attacks by loyalist groups continued this week when a bomb was thrown into the grounds of St Joseph's Catholic church in Antrim. The attack was claimed by the Red Hand Defenders. Intimidation of isolated families has also continued in particular in counties Antrim and Down. On the Garvaghy Road in Portadown the campaign of terror of this small community has intensified over the past week with crowds of loyalists attacking houses on a nightly basis. The Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble, who this week invited Amnesty International to investigate punishment beatings, has maintained an embarrassing silence as regards the serious situation in his own home town. The Garvaghy Road Residents Coalition recently handed in a dossier to the British Prime Minister Tony Blair outlining the harassment and intimidation of the community since July. The dossier is available on their website. It can be accessed here but be warned that this is a Microsoft Word document and not a web page.

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The Media and the Conflict

This week we are posting a comprehensive bibliography of books related to media coverage of the conflict over the past thirty years. The list will be of interest to students, journalists and activists. It can be accessed on our website on the menu item 'the Media and the Conflict' (shortcut here). Some of the books listed are no longer in print.

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