It is good to see foreign policy agreement between Britain and Ireland, particularly over Russia.
David Cameron has accused the Russian government of murdering Alexei Navalny, an opponent of President Putin. Micheál Martin has described the death as “chilling and ruthless”.
Both men are right. So thank God we do not live in Russia, where the government can murder people and get away with it. You wouldn’t get the likes of that in this country.
Or would you?
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At inquests last week, the British state was accused of covering up its role in the murder of three of its citizens: Sean Brown, Fergal McCusker and Seamus Dillon.
Mr Brown’s inquest was abandoned because MI5 and the PSNI (which is governed by Sinn Féin and others) failed to disclose vital information on the basis of Public Interest Immunity.
Bridie Brown, the widow of Sean Brown, with his daughters Siobhan Brown (left) and Claire Loughran (front right) outside the Royal Courts of Justice, Belfast. PICTURE: MAL MCCANN (Mal McCann)
It appears reasonable to conclude that the British government was involved in Mr Brown’s murder and is now intent on covering up the same sort of killing of which Mr Cameron has accused Mr Putin.
At Fergal McCusker’s inquest, Secretary of State Chris Heaton-Harris was accused of “an unprecedented political intervention” on behalf of the British government. Seamus Dillon’s inquest heard that the British government has concealed information about the murder.
Relatives of Fergal McCusker attend his inquest. PICTURE: COLM LENAGHAN
If the British state were not involved in all three killings, it would have nothing to hide and it would not need legislation to prevent further inquests on Troubles victims.
Loyalists killed over 900 people during the Troubles and, on the basis of what we already know, it is likely that hundreds of those involved active participation by the British state.
There was a fourth inquest last week, that of 10 Protestant workmen murdered by the Provisional IRA at Kingsmill in 1976. The coroner heavily criticised the IRA, and its political representatives, for failing to engage with investigating “an overtly sectarian attack by the IRA”.
10 Protestant workmen were shot dead by the IRA at Kingsmills, Co Armagh, in January 1976
Sinn Féin repeatedly attacks the British government for covering up its atrocities here, but refuses to apply the same standards to the IRA’s war crimes. In what the families of the Kingsmill dead might treat with understandable contempt, the party said the relatives of the dead deserved “truth and justice”.
The truth is that the 10 men did not deserve to be murdered. Justice would begin with Sinn Féin calling on the IRA to give up their war criminals.
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Recently-declassified documents reveal that the British government had a “private understanding with Sinn Féin” under the Good Friday Agreement. The IRA also asked the British government for an amnesty for its members but that no other group should have one.
So the British government gave “letters of comfort” to 187 republicans. The state covered up not just its own killings, but those of its supposed enemy.
Former Irish justice minister Michael McDowell has revealed that “the leadership of Sinn Féin begged on bended knee” for an amnesty for the IRA from the Dublin government. They were granted one, without any reference to justice.
Former Irish justice minister Michael McDowell
It is sometimes argued that it is unrealistic to expect the same level of transparency from paramilitaries as from governments. Even if this were true, the irony is that Sinn Féin, which still supports the IRA’s “inevitable” war, is now an integral part of the UK government.
As an active member of the British administration, Sinn Féin might reasonably be expected to heed its own call on the British for truth and justice.
Posters of the 10 Protestant workmen killed in the Kingsmill massacre in 1976 (Niall Carson/PA)
If Bloody Sunday deserved a public inquiry, so too does Kingsmill. If the families of Sean Brown, Fergal McCusker and Seamus Dillon deserve the truth (and they do), so too do the families of those killed at Kingsmill: John Bryans, Robert Chambers, Walter Chapman, Robert Freeburn, Reginald Chapman, Joseph Lemmon, John McConville, James McWhirter, Robert Walker and Kenneth Worton.
The truth is that the 10 men did not deserve to be murdered. Justice would begin with Sinn Féin calling on the IRA to give up their war criminals
The British and Irish governments might also acknowledge the decency and dignity of Alan Black, the sole survivor of the massacre.
Alan Black was the sole survivor of the gun attack in which 10 Protestant workmen were shot dead by the IRA in the Kingsmill massacre in January 1976 (Alan Lewis - Photopress Belfast/Photopress Belfast)
Western governments claim that the Russian administration gets away with injustice by showing contempt for the opposition in parliament.
After 25 years, the Assembly got an opposition a few weeks ago in the form of the SDLP. On the first Opposition Day, the First and Deputy First Ministers left the chamber before they could be asked any questions. This week Sinn Féin and DUP MLAs were largely absent for another Opposition Day, when the SDLP raised the issue of child poverty.
Thank God we do not live in Russia.
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