An Phoblacht/Republican News, December 19, 2003
Cory Report:
CORY REPORT CHARADE
Pressure is mounting on the British government to release the
findings of Judge Peter Cory's probes into cases of British
Crown force collusion in murders carried out by loyalist
paramilitaries.
On Thursday, the Dublin government released reports on
allegations against members of the security forces in the 26
Counties. However, the reports on the most serious allegations
of systematic and institutional collusion in the North are
still being withheld by the British.
Retired Canadian judge Peter Cory investigated some of the
most controversial killings in the North, the murders of
defences lawyer Pat Finucane and Rosemary Nelson and of
Portadown Catholic Robert Hamill. It is understood he is
calling for a public inquiry into all three, as well as the
deaths of loyalist leader Billy Wright inside Long Kesh prison
in 1997 and the IRA killings of RUC chiefs Harry Breen and Bob
Buchanan in 1989.
While the report on the IRA killings was published on
Wednesday in Dublin, the families of the other victims are
still in the dark.
Judge Cory said: "Failure to publish the report would be a
breech of the Weston Park agreement of both governments [in
which the report was commissioned] and could have unfortunate
consequences for the peace process."
Nationalist politicians and human rights groups have warned
that the British government may find another excuse to delay
publication and the inevitable public inquiry.
In a statement, five human rights groups - Amnesty
International, British Irish Rights Watch, the Committee on
the Administration of Justice (CAJ), Human Rights Watch and
the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights - said the delay in
publication was causing distress to the families concerned.
Paul O'Connor, project coordinator of the Pat Finucane Centre
for Human Rights, said: "Tony Blair's actions indicate that he
has fallen into the trap of other prime ministers: he is
afraid to face up to his own security forces."
Jane Winter, director of British Irish Rights Watch, said: "I
don't think the British ever expected in their worst
nightmares that Judge Cory would recommend four public
inquiries. I think they are running around like headless
chickens trying to do a damage limitation exercise."
She added that by delaying, Mr Blair "has made it look as if
he has something to hide".
'AVOIDING TRUTH'
The British and Irish governments have insisted they have not
fallen out over the Cory report, but Tony Blair has been
strongly criticised by nationalists for his failure to publish
the findings.
The SDLP leader, Mark Durkan, said that after meeting Mr Blair
this week he was convinced the British PM wanted "to bury the
truth".
Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams accused Blair of "long
fingering" the Cory report.
At a Downing Street meeting on Wednesday. Mr Adams and a party
delegation failed to get commitments from the British
government that the report's findings would be published soon.
"The question has to be asked - and we put this to Mr Blair -
why? We did not get any explanation at all."
Sinn Fein also raised the issue of the Barron report into the
1974 Dublin and Monaghan bombings -- published last week and
"Judge Barron's indictment of the British government for
refusing to co-operate with his inquiry".
"Mr Blair promised to come back to us on that issue. But I
think there is a connection between the two issues," Mr Adams
said.
"The issue of collusion which Cory was dealing with and the
issue of collusion which Barron was dealing with, I think that
is the common connection.
"Mr Blair needs to tackle this issue. At the time of Weston
Park we objected to the decision to go for this approach (a
judicial report) as we thought the families campaign or demand
for a full public independent judicial inquiry should have
been accepted.
"Judge Cory in fairness to him has completed his report more
quickly than many other inquiries and now we find it is being
long fingered again."
According to Mr Adams, the only explanation for this is that
the agencies which were responsible for collusion are still in
a position of influence.
McDOWELL PRESSURES IRA
Meanwhile, Dublin's Minister for Justice has insisted that the
IRA and Sinn Fein should co-operate with a public inquiry into
the deaths of the RUC officers, announced on Thursday.
Michael McDowell said yesterday that the "so-called Republican
Movement" faced a simple choice.
"Do they expect others to cooperate fully with all of the Cory
inquiries? If so, do they intend cooperating in like manner
with the Breen and Buchanan inquiry? That is the issue for the
so-called Republican Movement to answer clearly," he said.
Sinn Fein's policing and justice spokesman Gerry Kelly said
people should help the probes "if there is state collusion".
But at a press conference in Belfast he said the British
government must publish the four reports it has received from
Mr Justice Cory.
Mr Kelly said the IRA had accepted their responsibility for
the deaths of the two RUC officers. "The difference is that
we are dealing with state attacks and state agencies actually
being involved in violence and they have not accepted their
responsibility for that."
Mr Kelly said the British government "must stop stalling on
inquiries into the killings in which British state agencies
were involved."
"Judge Cory has reported yet we are now witnessing further
delays, excuses and stalling," he said. "The families involved
are entitled to the truth."