| IRISH EMIGRANT ISSUE No. 237
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August 19, 1991 THE IRISH EMIGRANT Issue No.237
- RTE had to abandon its plans to screen the "Shoot-to-Kill"
documentary, first shown on the Independent Network in Britain
two months ago. Legal action is pending against Yorkshire
Television, the makers of the four-hour programme, and it has
withdrawn permission for the screening here.
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| Ah yes, the putrid smell of Brit Gov. *Dishonesty* & Cover-up
in their never-ending quest to carry out their homicidal policies
in Ireland against the Irish nationalist community.
Mass. DA, on panel in Ulster shooting, favors trial
Kevin Cullen (Boston Globe 10/24/91)
Essex County Attorney Kevin M. Burke, one of five
international lawyers who presided over an unofficial inquiry
into the shootings of two brothers in Northern Ireland, has
determined there is enough evidence to bring murder charges
against the British soldiers who shot them.
Burke was one of two Americans on the five-member panel
appointed by a group of human rights lawyers to investigate
the Dec. 30, 1990, shootings of Fergal Caraher, who was killed,
and Michael Caraher, who was seriously wounded.
The [British] army had initially said the Carahers were shot
because they had sped through a security checkpoint and knocked
down a soldier, but witnesses disputed that account. Many who
dispute the army account believe the brothers were shot because
Fergal Caraher was a member of Sinn Fein, the political party
that supports the Irish Republican Army.
In his 35-page decision, the first to be rendered, burke not
only recommended that the three British Royal Marines who shot
the Carahers be indicted for murder, but also said the vague and
often contradictory laws and rulings put forth by the British
Government and Northern Irish courts have created an atmosphere
in which deadly force is used too frequently against civilians.
"Why does the [British] government accept the police and army
standards for the use of deadly force, yet refuse to make the
necessary statutory changes to make the law and policy
consistent?" Burke asked.
Burke also blamed judges and prosecutors for creating and
perpetuating a confusing body of law on the use of deadly force.
"The effect of this statutory and case law is to vest
virtually unchecked discretion in the officer to decide whether
to use deadly force 'in the circumstances.' Furthermore, there is
no statement that recognizes the risk of not using deadly force
must outweigh the certain harm to the target of the officers
weapon. The law regarding the use of deadly force by police and
soldiers not only fails to provide protection to ordinary
citizens but may, in fact, jeopardize their lives and safety,"
his decision states.
Although Burke's findings and those of French, German, and
English civil rights lawyers who presided over th inquiry are not
binding, they are expected to put additional pressure on those
conducting the official investigation into the shootings.
A spokesman for the Northern Ireland Office, which administers
British governmnet policy, said there would be no comment on the
activities of the groups that organized the two-day hearing last
June in which Burke sat as a judge. Privately, some government
officials have complained that some of those taking part in the
inquiry are political enemies of Britian.
In a recent interview, Peter Brooke, the British secretary of
state for Northern Ireland, said he wanted to allow the official
investigation to take its natural course.
Burke, however, said the failure of authorities to give an
explanation nearly a year after the shootings illustrates how the
Northern Irish justice system undermines its own credibility.
"I've done literally hundreds of homicide investigations, and
there's just no need for an investigation like this to take this
long."
[End of article]
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