Castlereagh
The announcement that Castlereagh interrogation centre is to close,
while welcome, does not go far enough.
Allegations of torture within Castlereagh have become the focus of
investigations from a number of Human Rights groups, including Amnesty
International, while a number of UN bodies have called for its
closure.
The most recent case of brutality meted out to a republican in
Castlereagh was that of Davy Adams, who won a £30,000 civil case
against the RUC. After his arrest in 1994, RUC members in Castlereagh
took turns jumping on Adams's legs, breaking one. The West Belfast man
spent three weeks in hospital with a punctured lung and broken ribs,
injuries also inflicted in the interrogation centre.
During the late 1970s and early 1980s, Castlereagh became synonymous
with the torture of republican detainees, leading to the Bennet
Report.
One of the most controversial cases was the death of 27-year-old Brian
Maguire, who was found hanging in his cell after a day of
interrogation in 1978.
Later, a UDA man who was held in the cell opposite Brian Maguire
reported that RUC detectives asked him what he thought of their
handiwork, referring to Maguire's death.
While many are hailing the closure of Castlereagh as a significant
change in the RUC, we must remember that those who killed Brian
Maguire, brutally assaulted Davy Adams and tortured thousands of
people to obtain false confessions are more than likely still members
of that force.
Castlereagh did not torture people, the RUC did. The only thing which
will end the inhuman treatment of the nationalist population will be
the disbanding of the RUC.
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