RUC hinder investigation
Crucial video evidence central to the investigation by the
Independent Commission for Police Complaints (ICPC) into an RUC
assault on a young Derry man last December is missing.
The burnt-in time code on video footage taken from an RUC
Landrover is believed to indicate that several minutes - during
which the man received serious head injuries - are missing. The
footage does show events immediately before and after the
incident.
The RUC offered no explanation but said they expected a ``thorough
and impartial'' investigation.
Last year an incident where two youths were injured by plastic
bullets fired from an unidentified RUC Landrover in the Suffolk
area of Belfast was captured on RUC video. Despite this, there
was no official RUC record of the Landrover and the RUC was
unable to identify the vehicle or its occupants.
The ICPC and human rights groups have consistently called for the
identification of RUC vehicles and RUC men.
In another case, West Belfast man, Gary Shaw, was released last
Tuesday 22 September after no evidence was offered in court. His
release came after six months held on remand. He said that while
being interrogated at Castlereagh an RUC man told him that they
would put him away without any evidence. Following his release he
said that the new powers of senior RUC officers would make
injustices like his easier.
Meanwhile, the Centre for Human Rights (CHR) has released its
submission, detailing RUC harassment and intimidation, to the
Patten Commission on Policing. CHR's director, Fr Joe McVeigh
said, ``we are concerned that the [British] government will not go
far enough.''
Fr McVeigh said, ``we are particularly concerned with the ongoing
attempts by the RUC to recruit informers, particularly in
Fermanagh where a Sinn Fein worker and two Sinn Fein members were
approached to work for the [crown] forces.''
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