North Belfast News - http://www.irelandclick.com/ - 04/01/01

German government launch McBride probe

The German Government was last night understood to be reviewing its decision to allow two British soldiers, convicted of the murder of a New Lodge teenager, to continue to serve in Germany.
Scots Guard Mark Wright and James Fisher were convicted of the murder of New Lodge teenager Peter McBride in 1992 but released by Mo Mowlam in 1998 and allowed to rejoin their regiment.
The convicted killers are understood to be currently serving with the British Army in Munster, Germany.
But German Defence Minister Rudolph Scharping this week confirmed that he was taking steps to obtain further details on the case.
And he said he had already written to the British government requesting an explanation as to why the German Government had not been informed that the convicted killers would be part of a British Army battalion in Germany.
The Defence Minister is understood to have launched the investigation into the presence of Peter McBride’s killers on German soil after human rights activists questioned the anomaly of not allowing German nationals convicted of serious crimes to serve in the German army while allowing convicted murderers from other armies to serve in Germany.
And the North Belfast News has learned another German party, the PDS, has also confirmed that it will be asking for information on the whereabouts of the two soldiers during question time in the Federal Parliament in Berlin in coming weeks.
It has also been confirmed that Irish Green Party MEP Patricia McKenna has handed details of the case to German Foreign Minister Fischer, from the ruling coalition Green Party.
The Defence Minister’s probe into the McBride case comes amid an ongoing debate in Germany over the employment of soldiers in the Federal Army (Bundeswehr) who have committed serious crimes or who are members of neo-nazi organisations.
Welcoming the support for the New Lodge teenager’s case Peter McBride’s mother Jean said that the German Defence Minister’s decision to mount an inquiry showed that the British Army was wrong to allow her son’s killers to remain with their regiment.
“I welcome the fact that Defence Minister Scharping is to look into the presence of Wright and Fisher in Germany.
“The German’s reaction to convicted killers being allowed to serve as soldiers on German soil shows that our campaign to have them drummed out of the British Army is legitimate.
“This shows that we have the backing of the international world on our side.
“Now is the time for the British Government to do the right thing.”

Journalist: Barry McCaffrey