PSNI Accountable to Nobody

25/03/09

éirígí spokesperson Breandán Mac Cionnaith has said the farcical process whereby one of those in custody in Antrim town was today (Wednesday) released and immediately rearrested by the PSNI proved that the British police force was accountable to no one.

The extraordinary actions of the PSNI came after the Belfast High Court ruled that the continued detention of six men at Antrim interrogation centre was unlawful.

The six have been held under the British Terror Act 2006, which provides for the detention of people without charge for 28 days.

Mac Cionnaith said: “The PSNI is now acting in defiance of even its own courts. To release someone simply to provide the opportunity for a fresh arrest is a classic sign of a police state. This man should be immediately released.

“In this particular case we now appear to be following a worrying pattern. This pattern, which began in the early 1990s, includes instances of attempted murder and actual murder by suspected state forces, constant harassment and miscarriages of justice. Now, we have had a trial by media, a prolonged detention under internment-like legislation and today’s ‘rearrest’.

“Today’s ruling confirmed what éirígí has consistently stated – that the continued detention of these men constituted a violation of their human rights. Clearly, the PSNI has no concern for such matters, even when they are raised by those who supposedly decide what is lawful and what is not.

“What began as a trial by media and establishment politicians and developed into a PSNI-led witch hunt has been ruled out of order by a British court. This is an indictment on all those involved in this affair.

“Those within the nationalist and republican community who promised acceptable and accountable British policing in Ireland must now concede that their plans lie in tatters after today’s events.

“The only honourable path left for those parties and individuals is for them to withdraw their support for Britain’s paramilitary police and remove their members from the Policing Boards and Policing Partnership. Any other path simply provides cover for the repressive tactics of the PSNI.”

Breandán continued: “While today’s court ruling will have serious implications for the British government’s 28-day detention legislation, the PSNI seem determined to carry on regardless.

“It is clearly the view of the PSNI that the Six Counties is a colony, to be kept under control through the use of interrogation centres and illegal detentions.”