Irish Republican News and Information, 19-23 December 2002,
http://irlnet.com/rmlist/
'SPY RING' ACCUSED RELEASED ON BAIL
Senior Sinn Fein official Denis Donaldson and another man, Ciaran
Kearney, have been freed on bail following a vigorous court
challenge to their continued detention on PSNI police accusations
that they were involved in an "IRA spy ring" in Belfast.
Both men had been in custody since October when the PSNI staged a
showpiece raid at Sinn Fein office's at the Stormont Aseembly,
where Donaldson was Sinn Fein's head of administration.
A total of four people were charged with possessing classified
documents after raids on homes in Belfast, but none remain behind
bars.
The detention of Donaldson and Kearney become a subject of
widespread protest after it appeared that the Stormont raid was a
charade for public consumption. In October, hundreds of PSNI
members were deployed in an embarrassing high-profile raid of the
Sinn Fein offices, but nothing was found.
On Friday, Denis Donaldson was freed on his own bail of one
thousand pounds sterling and two sureties of five thousand pounds
each.
This [Monday] afternoon, Mr Kearney's bail was set at three
thousand pounds. The judge also ordered Mr Kearney and his wife
to surrender their passports and not apply for new ones, British
or Irish.
The original refusal of bail was based on the evidence of the
PSNI who said they thought the men were involved with the
"Headquarters Intelligence Unit" of the IRA engaged in collating
information on the British military in Ireland.
The PSNI refused to reveal secret information on the IRA which
they insisted backed their claims.
On Friday, Mr Justice Sheil, presiding, pointed out that Mr
Donaldson had a right to liberty.
"If the Crown intends to rely on intelligence material in a bail
application that material now has to be disclosed to the
defence," he said.
"It has been made clear however by the European court that
seriousness of an offence is not in itself a reason for refusing
bail."
Today, Mr Kearney was released after the judge said he had
decided to release him because he did not want to make any
distinction between him and Mr Donaldson.