Massive Repression Revealed

Goulet and members of Irish trade unions and pro- of the repression and organise Hall, Dublin, trade unionist Phil Flynn and Piaras ©'Duiall, fessional bodies, taken from victims of repression and was presented by an ‘advocate! in anti-repression work, There was an enormous attendance at the three-day hearing, wih crowds attimes exceeding the capacity of the hall, ‘Those who attended found themselves face to face with a grim reality as detail after detail of brutality and torture were presented by the witnesses, The inquiry heard how the PTA had been used against the Irish in Britain -3,126 people arrested for 12 charged (and most of these charged with non-political offences). How articles on prisoners are censored because of the PTA sections on supporting the IRA, And the details of brutality against Irish political prisoners ,including the fact that only Irish prisoners are held on 'Special Category A' conditions, whicl. involves sensory deprivatior and solitary confinement, In the 26 counties they heard evidence of brutal torture by the Garda ‘heavy gang' in tortures which forced Thomas O'Connor to jump through the second story window of a Garda station and come within inches of impaling himself on railings, They heard also of the degrading brutality and strip-searches in Portlaoise prison - and were told that the men responsible for these acts still remained in positions of authority.

But it was in the North that sthe full face of police brutality was revealed; Ronnie Bunting -the RUC carved the letters 'UVE' on his arm and he was later fined £100 for 'making malicious complaints' about torture, Sean Mackin - attempted sucide after torture and and was brought back to be tortured again, Paul Burns -reported the use of hanging and strangulation as torture techniques, Paul Armstrong -taken paralysed from an intensive care unit to the torture cell, Examples were given of the long terms of imprisonment handed out on confessions extracted using these methods ar then a succession of witnesses spoke of the horrors of H-Block - how men are kept naked and continously locked in their cells; how brutality and degradation forced the 'no wash! protest; how the men are now stretched to the physical and mental limits of human endurance, After months of preparation an independent inquiry into abuse and tor‘ure of prisoners was held in Liberty The inquiry, held on 19th, 20th and 2ist May, was organised by a group of individuals including evidence was assessed by a panel of judges made up of those involved in the struggle for human rights internationally; Judge FE, Bloch of France, Paul Betaerp of Belgium, Juan Bandres of Euskado/Basque and Yuan Written and verbal evidence was each section who had been involved locked in cells filled with urine and excrement and assaulted by the screws with high-pressure hoses, and self-censorship of the press the evidence presented had a devastating effect on those unfamiliar with the details of state repression - including the judges. Even those involved in anti-repression work saw for the first time the breadth and scale of repression, The inquiry should be a lesson to all those who attended, They should learn that a united fight-back against repression is not a matter for organisational wrangling or petty political sectarianism, but an urgent necessity involving our very survival, inquiry was a massive success, It was the biggest gathering of those opposed to repression to be held in the South for may years, It collected together an enormous body of evidence and produced a clear and unamiguous verdict (see below) establishing the facts of repression and establishing the root cawe of these as the British presence in Ireland, Unlike the many white-wash inquiries held by the British this verdict is a weapon which can be used bv antirepression groups, It is the duty of all those involved in this work to study the report and publicise it as widely as possible, well, It was @ganised by a group of concerned, individuals rather than by a wtnited front of political organisations anl this fact accwrately reflects the movement and the lack of any real unity, especially in the South, Another weakness was that the witnesses were organised in a rather 'ad-hoc!' way - a series of public meetings to reach witnesses would have helped build the inquiry and made it even more successful and would have formed the nucleus ofan all-Ireland movement.

Because the inguiry was Wing the facts of repression it was not able to investigate the causes or to propose methods of fighting back.

the country.

Because of the censorship complete.

Despite a press boycott the But it had weaknesses as weakness of the anti-repression tion. mainly concerned with establishof numbers.