The Five Demands

Ebbene sì, Michael Stone resta fermo nell’affermare che quel  gesto compiuto a Stormont nel novembre di due anni fa, non era altro che una ‘performance artistica’.
Nonostante al momento dell’arresto, oltre alla pistola giocattolo, venne trovato in possesso di altri armamenti vari, che avrebbero potuto anche portare alla morte di qualcuno, Stone sostiene che mai e poi mai avrebbe realmente ucciso Gerry Adams e Martin McGuinness.
“Credo che  le autorità vogliano vedermi morire in carcere. Potrei arrivare a 70 anni prima che decidano del mio rilascio. Credo ci sia uno ‘zampino’ politico dietro a tutto questo’.
Il killer lealista ha comunque confermato di voler ricorrere in appello contro tutti i capi di accusa, perchè il verdetto ottenuto è ‘un’ingiunstizia e combatterò per sempre la sentenza’.
Il Sunday Life, parlando di Stone, ha sottolineato che:
– non ha mai pianificato di uccidere i leaders del Sinn Fein,
– in meno di dieci anni, la malattia degenerativa che lo ha colpito, lo costringerà su di una sedia a rotelle
– i quadri da lui dipinti nel carcere di Maghaberry, hanno raggiunto quotazioni di 50.000 sterline
– si è offerto di testimoniare in merito all’inchiesta su Billy Wright
Nonostante tutto Micheal Stone potrebbe tornare in libertà tra circa 6 anni, grazie alla riduzione della pena del 50% e conteggiando i 2 anni già trascorsi in carcere, in attesa della sentenza pronunciata la scorsa settimana.

Stone’s no surrender “I’ll fight verdict forever” says killer
Loyalist killer Michael Stone last night said he would never have carried out his raid on Stormont if he had realised he would end up in jail.
In his first interview from behind bars since being convicted of attempting to murder Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness during the bizarre incident in November 2006, Prisoner A385 Stone said he now hopes to be freed on appeal but believes the authorities want him to die in jail.
Last Monday he was sentenced to 16 years for the armed attack which he continues to maintain was an act of performance art.
The 53-year-old Milltown Cemetery killer said: “Obviously I now regret what I did but as an artist I have to stand by it. It was a performance art protest as I said in the dock and I used a number of props.
“I believe the authorities want me to die in jail. I could be 70 by the time they decide to release me, if they ever do. They want to hang on to me forever. I believe there are political fingerprints all over this. I have become a political embarrassment.
“I am appealing all charges and hope the appeal is successful. This verdict is an injustice. I am very disappointed and I will fight this verdict forever.”
Speaking from the loyalist wing at Maghaberry Prison, he also claimed to Sunday Life:
l He never planned to kill Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness and poses them no threat;
l He believes he has another 10 years before his health confines him to a wheelchair;
l Art dealers have offered him £50,000 for paintings he has done in Maghaberry Prison and;
l He has offered to testify before the Billy Wright inquiry.
Last month at Belfast Crown Court, Stone was convicted of the attempted murder charges and seven others, including possession of weapons and explosive devices.
Stone has consistently denied the charges but his performance art explanation was dismissed by a judge at Belfast Crown Court as “wholly unconvincing”.
The notorious killer launched his attack on the day the Stormont Assembly was debating whether the DUP and Sinn Fein would indicate ministerial candidates.
His trial heard he pointed an imitation gun at a female security guard, ignited an improvised explosive device in a flight bag and threw it some yards from him.
The prosecution said the bag contained explosive fireworks, flammable liquids, a butane gas canister and fuses. It failed to explode.
The court was also told that he was found to have seven nail bombs which were capable of causing death or serious injury to anyone in their proximity. Stone also had three knives, a hatchet and a garrotte.
However the east Belfast loyalist maintains that all were “props” for his act and he had stuffed the magazine slot in the gun with sponge. He also denies that the bombs could have caused serious damage.
Last Monday the trial judge Mr Justice Deeny said he had decided not to give Stone a life term because he suffers from a degenerative muscle wasting condition which would see him confined to a wheelchair in the future.
“He could hardly have a worse criminal record,” the judge said, “and I do take into account the very grave offences of which he was convicted in 1989.”
In 2000, Stone was released early from a life sentence under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement.
He had been jailed for a 1988 gun and grenade attack on the republican funeral at Milltown Cemetery of three IRA members shot dead by the SAS in Gibraltar.
Three men were killed in that attack and Stone also admitted three other murders. After being arrested for the Milltown massacre he admitted his intention had been to kill Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness.
But even though he knows he could now die in prison, Michael Stone maintains that his “mission” at Stormont was not to fulfil the goal he had when he attacked the IRA funerals.
“I support devolution and supported it the day I went to Stormont. I was there doing the performance art as a protest against the fact that there was going to be no progress that day. They were still in deadlock then,” he said.
“I am glad that devolution came about later. I never intended harming anyone.
“How could I have ever got into the Assembly chamber or near them. It took me two hours walking up the mile long Prince of Wales Avenue alone. I was in agony, I crawled part of it.
“Also if I was going to kill them why swap the magazine of the starting pistol for a piece of sponge. The sponge was to represent Harold Wilson’s speech when he referred to people here as spongers over 30 years ago.
“It may have been eccentric but I was not carrying any bombs, they were flashbangs. They were a simulation. I intended to take the rockets to as close to Parliament Buildings as I could get and set them off, like a firework display. It was black humour but it has backfired on me.”
Stone insists his war with republicans is over and that he had realised that long before he was arrested at Stormont.
“We are all both sides of the same coin, we are as culpable as each other. I killed, they killed. I am not a paramilitary now. I am a loyalist and will be until the day that I die. I am British.
“When I was sentenced on Monday I deliberately didn’t shout out ‘No Surrender’ because that is my past. I have nine kids and their grandchildren. I am a dinosaur,” he added.
Reports have suggested Stone could be free in as early as six years as he could earn 50pc remission on his 16-year sentence and has already served two years on remand.
But, while the father-of-nine is confident he will be able to successfully appeal his conviction and could be free in just over a year, he believes that the authorities could still make him serve at least 16 years — the remaining time on his earlier tariff for the Milltown Cemetery and other murders.
“There is 16 years left on the tariff of my original life sentence anyhow. The Secretary of State has suspended my licence and there have been a number of attempts to have it revoked since then. I have no doubt that it will be revoked now. There will be no rush to free me.
“My health will get worse but it could be 10 years before I end up in a wheelchair.”
Despite his notoriety, Stone says he still gets dozens of letters from well-wishers delivered to his prison cell.
“I am getting a lot of letters, especially from wee grannies. They say they used to be Paisley supporters. Some of them are disillusioned with the way things went and misinterpreted what I did and think it was great.
“Others have written saying I should not have been convicted.”
A fortnight ago the ex-UDA terrorist contacted the inquiry set up to probe allegations of collusion into the INLA murder of LVF godfather Billy ‘King Rat’ Wright at the Maze Prison in December 1997.
At the time of the killing Stone was a UDA leader in the jail. If the inquiry seek his evidence he will have to be brought out of prison to testify.
He explained: “I have contacted the Billy Wright Inquiry through my solicitor. I had warned prison authorities before he was killed that someone would die in H6. I actually thought the LVF was going to take someone out first.”
Stone also said that if a Truth Commission is set up in Northern Ireland as a means of dealing with the past he will be willing to give evidence at it.
“I have no problem with that as we all have to move on,” he said.