Sinn Féin to contest Ballymena seat
Sinn Féin has named Gerard Magee as a candidate for the Ballymena North ward in the forthcoming local government elections. Magee is an experienced full time Sinn Féin activist and as a member of the Six County Executive, he has spearheaded the re-organisation of the party throughout North Antrim.
A former republican prisoner, he successfully took a ground breaking legal case against the British government to the European Court of Human Rights. ``The legal ruling that convictions based solely on confession under duress were unsafe has opened up the way for hundreds, possibly thousands of people convicted over the past 30 years, to challenge the illegal basis of a conviction under these circumstances,'' said Magee.
While in Long Kesh, Gerard became a fluent Irish speaker and recently played a leading role in the Aisling Ghéar drama Dialann Ocrais (Diary of a Hunger Striker. Gerard's family has lived in Ballymena for three generations and he is acutely aware of the problems facing nationalists living in the area.
``Nationalist rights and the need for equality will be at the core of this election campaign,'' said Gerard. ``It is an honour to be the first Sinn Féin candidate to fight a local election in Ballymena.''
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