No Gloss – Just Matt!

I thought the conference went very well. Mark’s speech was good, but it usually is, only this time more people saw it as it was televised live on BBC.

One of the other themes of the conference was the ‘miscarriages of justice’ fringe organised by this branch and mentioned below.

The audience heard personal testimonies from the panelists, all victims in one way or another of miscarriages of justice, victims of provisionals denying justice, loyalists denying justice or the state denying justice.

The audience could not help but feel moved, it was dignified and raw. The emotions swirling around the room on Saturday afternoon touched everyone’s heart. All the speakers had a story to tell and a struggle to overcome. 

The mother of Paul Quinn told the packed silent room that she thinks of ‘that shed’ where her sons life was taken everyday, she told of every bone in his body being broken, how he was calling out for help but no one came. Tears gathered at the corner of everyone’s eyes.  

Briege Voyle spoke of the struggle of the families of the Ballymurphy Massacre of 1971. The ‘forgotten victims’. The same British Army regiment who took part in this barbaric act of cold blooded murder, where responsible for Bloody Sunday five months later. If this massacre had have been acted on, Bloody Sunday may have been prevented.

Paddy Hill and Gerry Conlon gave very lively and blunt accounts of their respective struggles. Some of which will be recounted by Gerry on this blog.

Raymond McCord outlined his struggle, the barriers he has to encounter on a daily basis and the threats he received and still receives, and how state organisations are preventing him from getting justice.

Reports from the Irish Times and the Irish News.

The common theme is that all these victims deserve justice, universal justice has no religion, no colour, gender or political alingnment. Universal justice is just that. Universal.