Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-05-09-Speech-1-061"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20050509.14.1-061"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spoken text |
".
Mr President, I also wish to welcome the partner and relatives of Robert McCartney today.
This weekend, I attended a vigil in London to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the death of Brian Douglas at the hands of the police. That is a fact, but no one has been prosecuted or held accountable for his death. Brian’s family is not alone: there are many such cases in the UK where people have lost loved ones to such violent deaths, yet no one is punished or held to account publicly in a court of law.
The families will tell you of their burning sense of injustice at this state of affairs and their anger that the killer of their loved one will continue to lead their own life, see their own children grow, spend time with friends and all of those things that they have robbed from their victim. Robert McCartney will never see his children grow.
We know that in many places witnesses have failed to come forward for one of two reasons: a misplaced sense of loyalty or fear of consequences. In the McCartney case we have both, set against a political backdrop that has further constricted the truth. Such silence hands the rule of law to thugs and to those who can feel powerful only by creating a culture of fear. They fear the truth. The offer from the IRA, as we have heard, to shoot the killers was an affront to justice and shows breathtaking arrogance. The IRA is not the law! In Northern Ireland, whatever the past, the ballot box now holds sway and the rule of law goes with that. There can be no argument for paramilitary justice for any sector of the community and my Group believes there never has been.
So the death holds a symbolism for the future: an opportunity to break with the past. That is why my Group has decided to support the spirit of the resolution, despite some of the wording and difficulties concerning the possible financial contribution from the Union, which is why we have asked for a separate vote on that issue.
However, the case offers an opportunity to break free from a culture of secrecy and fear and to bring the killers to account. It is time to break that stranglehold of the past and to create a rule of law that applies to all people in all communities."@en1
|
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples