| Subject: Slovak Three |
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Date Posted: 14:19:43 08/13/02 Tue
> Date: Thu, 9 May 2002 19:30:58 +0100 (BST)
>
>Statement on the Conviction of the "Slovak Three".
>
>On Tuesday 7th May Michael McDonald, Fintan O'Farrell,
>and Declan Rafferty were found guilty of Conspiracy
>charges and sentenced to thirty years at Woolwich
>Crown Court, in the confines of Belmarsh High Security
>prison, south east London.
>
>Since their original legally and morally dubious
>extradition ffrom the Slovak Republic in August/
>September 2001, the Prisoners' Aid Committee has
>repeatedly, emphatically, and utterly condemned the conditions in which these men have been kept. The British
>Government, through its' agents and lackeys in the
>security,prison, and legal systems, has repeatedly
>shown itself contemptuous of the human rights held by
>and entitled to Irishmen and women held throughout the
>ages in British Gaols, and these men were treated no
>differently.
>
>They have been, and presumably will continue to be
>held under a 22 hour a day lock- up, subject to
>"closed" visits- on the occassions visits were
>allowed- and reliant on outside help to alleviate such
>basic needs as radios and newspapers.
>
>By holding them in such conditions, and by handcuffing
>them to screws on Court appearances amid a heavily
>armed police presence in full view of the media, the
>three were effectively judged guiklty as "Irishmen
>involved in terrorist offences " before their trial.
>Or, should we say, they were given the same slim
>chance of a fair and truly just trial as every other
>Irishman and Irishwoman has had when hauled before a British Court.
>
>When three Irishmen are given such massive, and
>massively oppressive sentences, following nine months
>of trial by media, it is indicative of the innate
>savagery of the British so- called "justice" system when
>dealing with Irish Republicans that they will happily
>compound an injustice with a further injustice.
>
>The Prisoners' Aid Committee asks- and demands the
>truth- as to the true role of British Intelligence and
>the 'Secret Services' in these men's' conviction. Not
>only in their entrapment and extradition, but up to
>and especially including the trial itself.
>
>It is convenient to say the least that by pleading
>guilty the trial was prorogued without evidence being
>presented, including how MI.5 received the names of
>these three men in the first place from an American
>informer, David Rupert, the exact nature of their
>information, and specifically how they utilised it. It
>is difficult to claim it was in Rafferty's,
>O'Farrell's, or McDonald's, interest to change their
>plea last Friday, since they could not have
>expected to receive much less than thirty years had
>the fought the charge tooth and nail.
>
>So in exactly whose interests was it that the three
>pleaded guilty and the trial aborted? The benefits for
>the British Government and their Securocrats are
>immediately apparent.
>
>David Rupert, an 'informer' within the Real IRA, was
>quoted as being the original source of the
>accusations, as he was claimed to have suggested that
>they were being sent on such a mission to eastern
>Europe. However the Defence Counsel showed in Court
>that in the 2000 pages of e-mails sent from him to his
>handlers, none of their names ever appeared once
>(casting not such a truthful light on the trial
>Judge's assertion that the three were "at the heart of
>the Real IRA"). Rupert, however, is lined up as the key
>witness against Michael McKevitt, also of Louth, when
>his case for supposedly "directing terrorism" at the
>Special Criminal (ie Diplock) Court in Dublin comes
>up. Because the trial of Rafferty, McDonald, and O'Farrell was ended so soon, neither Rupert's motivation nor antecedents were exposed, or the honesty of his information ever questioned. If the Slovak Three's case HAD ever come to full presentation, of course, undoubtedly Rupert's credibility would have been destroyed before he even came to give evidence against McKevitt... evidence which is called "crucial" and, if discredited, would weaken their case to the extent that it would be laughed out of court, perhaps?
>
>Equally, of course, the entrapment procedures utilized
>by MI.5 and Special Branch have also never come under
>public scrutiny. Whereas there has been misleading and
>obfuscating commentary in the press (e.g, the "Sunday
>Tribune", 5th May 2002) about the Army Council issuing
>directives to prisoners to "conceal embarrassment of
>their European Operations coming to light", it is
>closer to the truth to view it the other way round... that the goons, agents, and their manipulators feared the truth
>about THEIR own operations coming to light, in their
>dealings with both Rupert and the Slovak Authorities.
>
>It should also be remembered that the original charge
>of "Member ship of a proscribed Organization" was
>dropped at the last minute, yet although they were
>charged as individuals they were sentenced as
>Volunteers- even though they were effectively never
>accused of being IRA men! They certainly received
>senteces more akin to those convicted of offences
>associated with Oglaigh na hEireann,rather than as
>orginizationally uncharged individuals. The sheer
>hypocrisy of this is outrageous, as was the trial
>Judge's dismissal of the- not insubstantial- evidence
>put in the three men's favour. Mitigating as it was,
>and although Mr.. Justice Astill (presiding), admitted
>the "convincing" nature of this evidence (the historical strength of family, local, and loyalty ties as a result of the history of this part of Ireland, as well as the fallibility of the prosecution evidence) as well as how well this defence was put, he merely proceeded to ignore it. It was perfectly obvious to all of us observing that he
>had mede up his made already- or had been instructed
>to do so by his superiors. He claimed the "evidence"
>against them was so infallible- "overwhelming", in
>fact- that his verdict was inevitable.
>
>Yet again, it is convenient for the British State that
>this decision as to the "overwhelming" nature of this
>evidence was based on his own reading of it, and was
>never going to be presented to a jury. It is easy to
>claim evidence is "overwhelming" when no- one else is ever going to see it, and it effectively never comes to court.
>
>The Prisoners' Aid Committee will actively and
>publicly campaign for these three Irishmen's' right
>for their immediate repatriation to Ireland to serve
>their sentence in a prison there, a right all prisoners
>have, to serve their sentences in the country of their
>nationality. The least this will achieve is too enable
>their wives, families, dependents, and friends to
>easily visit them and avoid the innate brutality
>facing Irish people n British Gaols. Or does the
>British Government intend to punish them too? If the
>men appeal the inhuman and fascistic length of their
>sentence, we will support them with all our hearts. If
>they choose to fight on as so many Irishmen and women
>in British Gaols have done over the years and the
>centuries in pursuit of the most basic rights ever
>offered a man, we will aid them with all our strength.
>
>We urge, demand, and claim the support of every
>progressive individual or group, whether Republican or
>otherwise, who support the struggle for Human Rights
>to join with us, and not only support the struggle
>against tyranny and victimization, but build on the foundations that generations of Irishmen and Women imprisoned by the oppressor state have laid over the centuries- from Wolfe Tone and the Manchester Martyrs, O'Donovan Rossa and Tom J. Clarke, to Michael Gaughin and Bobby Sands.
>Eventually for the rotten, crumbling, empire of evil
>that is British Justice to come crashing down around
>the Imperialists' heads for ever.
>
>Is Mise le meas,
>
>THE OFFICERS AND MEMBERS (Prisoners' Aid Committee)
>
>pp. P. O'Loinsigh (An Runai)
>
>prisoners_aid_committee@hotmail.com
>
>
>I ndil chuimhne na gcimi poblachtanacha a fuair bas i
>ngeibheann i rith na coimhlinte reatha seo.
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