HUNT OMAGH KILLERS DOWN LIKE NAZIS'
Hunt Omagh killers down like Nazis'
Relatives set to step up campaign
BY ALAN MURRAY
THE Omagh bombers should be hunted down and put on trial like Nazi war criminals - no matter how long it takes, the father of one of the victims has demanded.
Relatives of the 29 civilians killed in the worst atrocity of the Troubles will launch a campaign in the New Year to try to force the British and Irish governments to hand over all intelligence material they hold about the bombers.
The British and Irish governments and the Spanish government will be asked to co-ordinate their resources to compile files of evidence against the 10 key republicans identified by intelligence agencies as the main participants behind the 1998 bombing.
And the new head of MI5, Jonathan Evans, will be approached to take the step that his predecessor refused to take and meet with the Omagh relatives.
Omagh Victims Group spokesman Michael Gallagher said that the families are determined to pursue the killers until they are brought before the courts like Nazi war criminals many decades after the end of the Second World War.
And he wants the British and Irish governments in particular to open their intelligence books to provide the material that he believes can convict the killers.
"In the New Year we will petition the British government, the Irish government and the Spanish government to begin the process of bringing the main participants in the Omagh bombing to trial," he said.
"All three governments lost citizens in the attack and it is their responsibility to put together the intelligence evidence and bring these people to court. There is information about mobile phone calls in the files and many other details that we are aware of which have not been used in an evidential way and we want to see all that amassed information provided to prosecutors so the killers can be put in the dock together."
The Omagh man, who lost his son Aiden in the devastating explosion, said that the trial of Klaus Barbie, the brutal Nazi Gestapo chief in Lyon during the World War Two, was an example of what can be achieved years after events had taken place.
"Barbie wasn't put on trial until 1987 in Lyon more than 40 years after the war so that proves that when governments want to bring people to justice they can succeed," he said.
"In the New Year we will launch a campaign to bring the 10 most senior republicans involved in the Omagh attack to justice. We are not deterred by anything that has gone before."
Relatives set to step up campaign
BY ALAN MURRAY
THE Omagh bombers should be hunted down and put on trial like Nazi war criminals - no matter how long it takes, the father of one of the victims has demanded.
Relatives of the 29 civilians killed in the worst atrocity of the Troubles will launch a campaign in the New Year to try to force the British and Irish governments to hand over all intelligence material they hold about the bombers.
The British and Irish governments and the Spanish government will be asked to co-ordinate their resources to compile files of evidence against the 10 key republicans identified by intelligence agencies as the main participants behind the 1998 bombing.
And the new head of MI5, Jonathan Evans, will be approached to take the step that his predecessor refused to take and meet with the Omagh relatives.
Omagh Victims Group spokesman Michael Gallagher said that the families are determined to pursue the killers until they are brought before the courts like Nazi war criminals many decades after the end of the Second World War.
And he wants the British and Irish governments in particular to open their intelligence books to provide the material that he believes can convict the killers.
"In the New Year we will petition the British government, the Irish government and the Spanish government to begin the process of bringing the main participants in the Omagh bombing to trial," he said.
"All three governments lost citizens in the attack and it is their responsibility to put together the intelligence evidence and bring these people to court. There is information about mobile phone calls in the files and many other details that we are aware of which have not been used in an evidential way and we want to see all that amassed information provided to prosecutors so the killers can be put in the dock together."
The Omagh man, who lost his son Aiden in the devastating explosion, said that the trial of Klaus Barbie, the brutal Nazi Gestapo chief in Lyon during the World War Two, was an example of what can be achieved years after events had taken place.
"Barbie wasn't put on trial until 1987 in Lyon more than 40 years after the war so that proves that when governments want to bring people to justice they can succeed," he said.
"In the New Year we will launch a campaign to bring the 10 most senior republicans involved in the Omagh attack to justice. We are not deterred by anything that has gone before."
Further Information
Publisher: BELFAST TELEGRAPH
Ref: BT/1052
Published Date: 31-Dec-07
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