The Five Demands

(Update!)Colin Duffy è stato formalmente accusato in relazione all’attentato del 7 marzo scorso alla base armata di Massereene, di cui sono rimaste vittime Sappers Patrick Azimkar e Mark Quinsey.
Giovedi sei degli indagati, tra cui il prominente repubblicano Colin Duffy, avevano vinto l’appello contro la richiesta di proroga della detenzione preventiva ed erano quindi stati rilasciati. Duffy una volta liberato, è stata ri-arrestato subito dopo presso la stazione di polizia di Antrim.
Ora dovrà rispondere, davanti alla Larne Magistrates’ Court, di 8 capi d’accusa: duplice omicidio, 5 tentati omicidi e detenzioni di armi.
La notizia è trapelata, ore dopo la conclusione di una manifestazione di protesta a sostegno di Colin Duffy, avvenuta a Lurgan e che ha visto la partecipazione di più 200 persone.

Chi è Colin Duffy?
Colin Duffy è forse il nome e il volto più noto tra i dissidenti repubblicani in Irlanda del Nord.
Inizialmente tra le file del Sinn Fein da cui si è allontanato dopo il power sharing, è poi passat ad Eirigi di cui è stato membro fino allo scorso Febbraio.
Colin è stato una delle prime persone arrestate in connessione con gli omicidi di  Patrick Azimkar e Mark Quinsey avvenuti presso la base armata di Massereene, il 7 marzo scorso.
Durante un manifestazione di protesta a sostegno di Colin Duffy che ha avuto luogo ieri sera, il fratello Paul Duffy lo ha descritto come “un repubblicano che non ha niente di cui vergognarsi” che “si è sempre battuto per la gente di questa comunità e sempre lo farà”.
Nel 1990 scampò ad un attentato lealista.

Man charged over soldier murders (BBC News Northern Ireland)
Prominent Northern Ireland republican Colin Duffy will appear in court later charged with the murders of two soldiers outside barracks in Antrim.
Sappers Patrick Azimkar and Mark Quinsey were shot collecting pizza at the Massereene barracks on 7 March.
Mr Duffy, 41, faces eight charges; two counts of murder, five counts of attempted murder and one count of possession of a firearm.
He is expected to appear at Larne Magistrates’ Court later.
News of the charges came hours after more than 200 people in Lurgan, County Armagh, attended a meeting in support of Mr Duffy and his family.
On Thursday six suspects in the murders, including Mr Duffy, were released by the High Court after a legal challenge to their detention.
Mr Duffy was freed but re-arrested at Antrim police station a short time later.
The murder of the soldiers was followed by the killing of Constable Stephen Carroll in Craigavon two days later.
Two men, a 17-year-old youth and a former Sinn Féin councillor, 37-year-old Brendan McConville, have been remanded in custody charged with the murder of Constable Carroll.
A 21-year-old man has been remanded in custody accused of withholding information in relation to the policeman’s murder.
The dissident republican Real IRA shot Sappers Azimkar and Quinsey outside Massereene barracks, while the dissident republican Continuity IRA claimed the murder of Constable Carroll.
Four other people, including two pizza delivery men – Anthony Watson, 19, from Antrim and a Polish man in his 30s – were injured in the attack on the County Antrim barracks.
The two young soldiers were the first to be murdered in Northern Ireland in 12 years.
Constable Carroll’s murder was the first of a police officer in NI since 1998.
Constable Frank O’Reilly was killed by a loyalist blast bomb during disturbances linked to the Drumcree dispute in 1998.
The last police officers murdered by republicans, RUC constables Roland John Graham and David Andrew Johnston, were shot dead by the IRA in Lurgan, County Armagh in June 1997.

Who is Colin Duffy?
Colin Duffy is perhaps the most recognisable name and face among dissident republicans in Northern Ireland.
He used to be associated with Sinn Fein, but cut ties over its move towards power sharing at Northern Ireland’s devolved assembly.
He was one of the first people arrested in connection with the murders of sappers Patrick Azimkar and Mark Quinsey in Antrim earlier this month.
This was is in a dawn raid at this home in Lurgan, County Armagh.
On Thursday night supporters of Mr Duffy attended a meeting at a nearby community centre in the Kilwilkie estate.
At the meeting, Paul Duffy described his brother as an “unashamed republican” who has “always stood up for the people in this community and always will”.
In 1990 he escaped injury in an attack in which a friend was shot dead by loyalists in the Kilwlkie estate.
He had until February of this year been associated with eirigi, a political group opposed to Sinn Fein’s involvement in Northern Ireland’s power-sharing executive.
Protest
He was photographed with other members of the group, protesting against a homecoming parade in Belfast for soldiers returning from service in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Mr Duffy’s solicitor, Rosemary Nelson, was murdered by loyalists in 1999.
She was killed in a booby trap car bomb attack outside her Lurgan home.
The murder is now subject to an ongoing inquiry at which it has been alleged that there was security force involvement in the killing.