Republican News · Thursday 6 February 2002

Open Up the Files Campaign launched

The Bloody Sunday rally in Derry on 2 February saw the launch of a campaign calling on the British government to make public what they know about state and loyalist killings in the Derry and Donegal areas.

The 'Open the Files' campaign was set up by a group of 14 families demanding to know the truth about the killings by the crown forces of their loved ones.

Launching the campaign at Free Derry Corner, Minty Thompson, whose mother Kathleen was killed in the garden of her Creggan home by a British soldier in November 1971, said that if the peace process is for real then the British Secretary of State Paul Murphy, the PSNI Chief Hugh Orde and the Director of Public Prosecutions should make all files relating to the deaths of their loved ones available to the families.

"We have sought information regarding the deaths of our loved ones but to no avail," she said. "All we ask is for the truth."

The Open up the Files Campaign is demanding that the PSNI make the files available and that the DPP's office explains why those who killed their loved ones were not prosecuted

The families also want classified British government documents which contain intelligence briefings on links between the crown forces and loyalist paramilitaries to be released. The families say they have the right to know if the state colluded in the killings of their relatives.

The campaign group is asking other relatives who wish to seek information on the deaths of their loved ones to join them around one simple demand, 'Open up the Files'.

A series of meetings will be held across the Six Counties where relatives will be asked to join the campaign. They will be held at the following venues:

Wednesday 12 February, Ashton Centre, 5 Churchill Street, New Lodge, Belfast, 8pm.

Tuesday 18 February, An Cultúrlann, 216 Falls Road, Belfast, 8pm.

Thursday 20 February, Ardoyne Community Centre, Butler Street, Belfast, 8pm.

Tuesday 25 February, Fírinne, 87 Main Street, Lisnaskea, County Fermanagh, 8.30pm.

Thursday 27 February, St Patrick's Hall, Union Place, Dungannon, 8.30pm.

Tuesday 4 March, Ashburn Hotel, 81 William Street, Lurgan, 8pm.