Sinn Fein suspends IRA 7
2005-03-04 10:08
Dublin, Ireland - Sinn Fein announced on Thursday night it has suspended seven members who were allegedly involved in the January 30 killing of a Catholic man outside a crowded Belfast pub.
"If any of these seven are found to have been involved in the events surrounding the death of Robert McCartney, or if they do not provide truthful accounts at this time as the McCartney family have requested, Sinn Fein will take further internal disciplinary action to expel these individuals," Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams said.
Adams's announcement came after weeks of public criticism from McCartney's family in Short Strand, a Catholic neighbourhood that is normally an IRA power base.
Last week the IRA announced it had expelled three members allegedly involved in the attack on McCartney, during which he was fatally slashed in the throat and stomach. One of his friends, Brendan Devine, suffered similar wounds but survived.
So far police have arrested 10 people and raided 18 homes, largely in the Short Strand area, but haven't charged anybody - even though the identities of the attackers are being circulated widely in Belfast. Police and the McCartney family have said more than 50 witnesses in the pub feared the IRA might kill them if they offered evidence to police.
Adams said the McCartney family, citing witnesses' claims, had identified all seven to him as part of the IRA gang that attacked McCartney and Devine.
Sinn Fein "has no basis to make any allegations against any of these suspended members at this time, and some or all may be innocent of any offence," he said.
But Sinn Fein has passed their names to Police Ombudsman Nuala O'Loan, Adams said.
I never gave no hand signals
Sinn Fein and the IRA continue to reject the legitimacy of Northern Ireland's police force. Sinn Fein was initially criticised for opposing police efforts to identify McCartney's killers, and more recently for refusing to call for witnesses to talk directly to police.
But the police commander, Chief Constable Hugh Orde, said on Wednesday that his detectives would welcome any witnesses who preferred to give statements of evidence either to lawyers or O'Loan's office instead.
A reputed IRA figure in Short Strand, Gerard "Jock" Davison, denied any involvement in McCartney's killing in an interview published on Thursday in the Daily Ireland newspaper. He specifically denied witness claims that he ordered IRA underlings to attack McCartney and Devine.
"I never gave no order, I never gave no hand signals, I never gave no anything," Davison was quoted as saying.
McCartney's five sisters, who have lobbied the Irish and British governments and are considering travelling to the United States on St Patrick's Day to publicise their case further, rejected Davison's version of events.
"He seems very keen to exonerate himself," said one sister, Catherine McCartney. "The best way to do that is in court, not in a newspaper."
- AP