McGreanery report raises Bloody Sunday questions: Durkan

FOYLE MP Mark Durkan has said yesterday's Historical Enquiries Team (HET) report into the killing of Billy McGreanery by the British Army in Derry in September 1971 throws up serious questions in the run-up to the publication of the Saville report into the events of Bloody Sunday.

Mr Durkan has said the revelation that then Attorney General Sir Basil Kelly's view in December 1971 that soldiers should be immune from prosecution for murder for killings carried out "in the line of duty" is highly significant given that Bloody Sunday occurred only six weeks later.

Mr Durkan, who raised the McGreanery case yesterday with the Taoiseach Brian Cowen in Dublin, said: "Many of us suspected over the years that there was an attitude that said you can't prosecute soldiers or members of the security forces and that they would be protected as far as the prosecution authorities were concerned.

"That was the suspicion that many people had – that there was that mindset.

"But it is actually shocking to see that made real and visible in terms of what the Historical Enquiries Team have revealed that the Attorney General was as bluntly cynical as to say that the soldier in question should be immune from prosecution for anything that he did in the line of duty - even though the clear recommendation from senior police officers at the time was that there should be a prosecution for murder.

"That was a decision that would not have been made lightly. It would have been made after taking into account all of the circumstances and issues at the time.

"The fact that the Attorney General on behalf of the government – the senior prosecuting authority - would have taken that decision has to be a matter of huge disgust.

"It also raises the serious question as to whether this decision sent the signal to the security forces, to the MoD and to the army that basically 'anything goes'.

"Did this ruling by the Attorney General become the 'going rate' in the minds of the British army and those controlling them? Indeed, they were being told they would be immune from prosecution and whatever they did they could do with impunity.

"In this case they didn't just murder Billy McGreanery. They also then falsified the accounts of the event by saying that he was pointing a rifle, that he constituted a threat.

"What the HET inquiry shows is that this was simply not true and that there was absolutely no basis for that.

"HET have helped to uphold the innocence of this man. For his family, this report is in one sense justice achieved, but in another it has to be a matter of huge disgust and frustration because it raises questions not only about their uncle but other victims as well – including those of Bloody Sunday only six weeks later.

"This case proves the importance of the Historical Enquiries Team. Some people have said 'Let's forget about the past, we're wasting money on HET etc.'

"We in the SDLP lobbied for its establishment. I remember negotiating with Paul Murphy to secure proper funding for that team to do its important work.

"What we see with the McGreanery case is that there are other cases out there which still have to be properly addressed, resolved and accounted for.

"Just as this has been hugely important for this family, there are also other case files that are going to be hugely important for others.

"The truth has to be told because too many families were not only denied justice, they were also denied the truth and lies were told about their loved ones – not just by the security forces but also paramilitary organisations who put out false statements and lies about the people they killed as well."

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