The Five Demands

Prosegue il processo contro Gary Donnelly, Michael Gallagher, Martin Francis O’Neill, Patrick John McDaid, presso la Special Criminal Court di Dublino.
L’accusa ha riassunto come si svolsero i fatti lo scorso 15 marzo. Giunse una soffiata su di un incontro tra alcuni membri del Real IRA e i media, a testimonianza di una sorta di dimostrazione di forza.
Il pedinamento inizio’ il 15 marzo al McIntyre’s The Nineteeth Hole, dove Donnelly e O’Neill si incontrarono con altre 4 persone, insieme alle quali si allontanarono piu’ tardi a bordo di un furgone bianco. L’automezzo venne fermato verso le 23.10, gli occupanti vennero tutti arrestati, ma in quel momento nessuno dei quattro imputati era presente. A bordo del veicolo vennero ritrovati una fotocamera digitale, 4 quaderni, passamontagna, una videocamera, cd e memory card.
Venne poi fermato una passat Volkswagen grigia, vicino al confine di Derry. I quattro occupanti vennero arrestati sulla base dell’Offences Against The State Act.
Analizzando il video sono stati individuati sia Donnelly che O’Neill, alle spalle degli uomini con indosso il passamontagna.
Entrambi dichiararono di essere coadiuvatori della troupe dei media.
Esperti del FBI hanno poi rilevato, che uno degli uomini a volto coperto fosse Michael Gallagher.
E’ quindi convinzione dell’accusa che i Four Derry siano affiliati alla Real IRA.
Si attendono sviluppi nei prossimi giorni.

Dublin court hears of arrests after Bridgend operation
Four Derry men were arrested during a garda operation into a Real IRA “show of strength” for members of the media near the Derry/Donegal border last March, the Special Criminal Court in Dublin was told yesterday.
The court was told that two of the men later told gardai they were helping the makers of a BBC documentary.
The four Derry City men are Gary Donnelly (38), Kildrum Gardens, Michael Gallagher (28), Sackville Court, Martin Francis O’Neill(40), Colmcille Court, and Patrick John McDaid (38), Marlborough Street.
They have pleaded not guilty to membership of an unlawful organisation styling itself the Irish Republican Army, otherwise Oghlaigh na hEireann, otherwise the IRA, on March 16th.
Prosecuting counsel Mr Patrick Marrinan SC told the court that gardai mounted an operation along the Derry/Donegal border after receiving confidential information that the Real IRA were to meet with representatives of the media in the Donegal area.
“The information suggested that this meeting was intended to be a show of strength by the IRA and that a firearm or firearms would be shown to members of the media,” he said.
Gardai from the National Surveillance Unit observed a Toyota Avensis car arriving at “Mc Intyre’s The Nineteeth Hole”‘ bar at Bridgend at 8.15 pm on March 15th and four men were seen entering the bar and sitting together and not joining other people.
At 9pm two of the accused Donnelly and O’ Neill were observed at the bar and at 9.10 pm a white Ford Transit van arriving at the car park. Donnelly and O’ Neill and the four men from the bar were then observed leaving in the white van which was followed to Kildrum Upper crossroads but it was not possible for gardai to follow it after that.
At 11.10 pm members of the Emergency Response Unit stopped the van as it headed back towards Bridgend by blocking the road with a garda car. The gardai were armed and they removed the van’s driver from the van and they also found six men in the rear of the van.
In the back of the van gardai found a digital camera, two tripods, four notebooks, balaclavas, gloves, digital camera tape, discs and memory cards. The occupants were all arrested but none of the four accused were among those arrested then.
The following day gardai stopped a silver Volkswagen Passat car as it headed towards the Derry border. The four accused were in the car and were arrested under the Offences Against the State Act.
Masked men
Mr. Marrinan said that 53 photos were printed from the memory card found in the white van and they showed three men wearing balaclavas and one of whom was in possession of a firearm being interviewed by members of the media.
The tapes found in the white van had voice recordings of a press conference and Mr.
Dublin court hears of arrests after Bridgend operation
Marrinan told the court they would see a video of the press conference.
He said it was the prosecution case that two of the accused, Donnelly and O’Neill were in the background at the press conference and were photographed in a doorway.
The court would also hear from an expert visual analyst from the FBI that one of the photos shows the accused Gallagher even though he was masked.
When questioned by gardai after their arrest, the accused Donnelly denied membership of any illegal organisation. After he was shown photos of the press conference he asserted that he was assisting the makers of a documentary.
The accused O’ Neill told gardai that he was assisting the makers of a BBC “Spotlight’’ documentary.
Mr. Marrinan said that while there was a considerable amount of circumstantial evidence the principle evidence will be the opinion of Chief Superintendent Terry McGinn of Letterkenny that each of the accused was a member of an unlawful organisation on the date in question.
Detective Garda Siobhan Tighe, Buncrana, told the court that she arrested Andrew Bell at 11.30 pm near Bridgend after gardai stopped a white transit van. He gave an address in Belfast and said he was a producer of the Panorama programme.
The trial continues.