BRITISH SECRECY THREAT TO TRIAL
British secrecy threat to trial
BY NIGEL MCDONAGH
THE BRITISH government could jeopardise the trial against alleged Real IRA leader and Omagh bombing mastermind, Michael McKevitt, by demanding that its agents and secret intelligence sources be granted anonymity from the Irish courts.
A hearing of preliminary legal arguments regarding the disclosure of sensitive documents to defence lawyers acting for McKevitt has subsequently been fixed for Wednesday October 9 by Dublin's Special Criminal Court.
Mr Justice Richard Johnson, presiding, said the court would on that date, "hopefully" be in a position to then fix a date early next year for when McKevitt is due to stand trial for directing terrorism.
McKevitt, 51, was among five alleged terrorist suspects who were served with writs last week by the families of the Omagh victims.
He was arrested in March last year and charged under powers brought in by the Irish government after the Omagh atrocity in August 1998. He is accused of directing terrorism between August 29, 1999, and March 28,2001.
It is the first prosecution for directing terrorism under new legislation brought in after the 1998 Omagh bombing and anyone convicted of the offence faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
He is also charged with membership of an illegal organisation.
The main evidence against McKevitt is expected to be provided by David Rupert, an American haulier and former FBI infiltrator into the republican movement who was later recruited by MI5. He became involved in the Irish republican movement in 1997 and, for more than three years, spied on the activities of republican fundraisers.
When the republican movement split over the Provisional IRA ceasefire, Rupert sided with the breakaway 32 County Sovereignty Movement, the political wing of the Real IRA. He has admitted his part in a "dummy run" for a bombing from Bundoran, where he lived for a time, to Omagh. That was shortly before the August 15,1998 atrocity which claimed 29 victims and two unborn children.
Rupert was made the splinter republican group's main representative in America and the funds he raised were monitored by the FBI and MI5. They allegedly passed through an account in Dundalk, where McKevitt lived with his wife Bernadette Sands, the sister of the IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands.
At a remand hearing this week to set dates for legal arguments, the court -which sits with three judges but no jury - heard that Rupert had infiltrated the Real IRA leadership and attended their "army council" meetings. It was alleged that McKevitt asked Rupert to acquire equipment for the dissident republicans.
When McKevitt was arrested, it was made clear by the Irish authorities that Rupert would need to give evidence in open court. He is on a U.S. witness protection programme and will be given a new identity after the trial. But the position of other evidence and potential witnesses is less clear cut. In October, the British Government will make an application for certain secret material to be withheld from the defence lawyers. There is also concern that anonymity may not be granted to any security service witnesses or agents who might be required to give evidence.
If the Dublin court refuses to grant immunity to sensitive material then MI5 may be reluctant to produce it in court. If the trial is compromised as a result, the security service will have revealed a valuable agent for nothing.
BY NIGEL MCDONAGH
THE BRITISH government could jeopardise the trial against alleged Real IRA leader and Omagh bombing mastermind, Michael McKevitt, by demanding that its agents and secret intelligence sources be granted anonymity from the Irish courts.
A hearing of preliminary legal arguments regarding the disclosure of sensitive documents to defence lawyers acting for McKevitt has subsequently been fixed for Wednesday October 9 by Dublin's Special Criminal Court.
Mr Justice Richard Johnson, presiding, said the court would on that date, "hopefully" be in a position to then fix a date early next year for when McKevitt is due to stand trial for directing terrorism.
McKevitt, 51, was among five alleged terrorist suspects who were served with writs last week by the families of the Omagh victims.
He was arrested in March last year and charged under powers brought in by the Irish government after the Omagh atrocity in August 1998. He is accused of directing terrorism between August 29, 1999, and March 28,2001.
It is the first prosecution for directing terrorism under new legislation brought in after the 1998 Omagh bombing and anyone convicted of the offence faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
He is also charged with membership of an illegal organisation.
The main evidence against McKevitt is expected to be provided by David Rupert, an American haulier and former FBI infiltrator into the republican movement who was later recruited by MI5. He became involved in the Irish republican movement in 1997 and, for more than three years, spied on the activities of republican fundraisers.
When the republican movement split over the Provisional IRA ceasefire, Rupert sided with the breakaway 32 County Sovereignty Movement, the political wing of the Real IRA. He has admitted his part in a "dummy run" for a bombing from Bundoran, where he lived for a time, to Omagh. That was shortly before the August 15,1998 atrocity which claimed 29 victims and two unborn children.
Rupert was made the splinter republican group's main representative in America and the funds he raised were monitored by the FBI and MI5. They allegedly passed through an account in Dundalk, where McKevitt lived with his wife Bernadette Sands, the sister of the IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands.
At a remand hearing this week to set dates for legal arguments, the court -which sits with three judges but no jury - heard that Rupert had infiltrated the Real IRA leadership and attended their "army council" meetings. It was alleged that McKevitt asked Rupert to acquire equipment for the dissident republicans.
When McKevitt was arrested, it was made clear by the Irish authorities that Rupert would need to give evidence in open court. He is on a U.S. witness protection programme and will be given a new identity after the trial. But the position of other evidence and potential witnesses is less clear cut. In October, the British Government will make an application for certain secret material to be withheld from the defence lawyers. There is also concern that anonymity may not be granted to any security service witnesses or agents who might be required to give evidence.
If the Dublin court refuses to grant immunity to sensitive material then MI5 may be reluctant to produce it in court. If the trial is compromised as a result, the security service will have revealed a valuable agent for nothing.
Further Information
Publisher: ULSTER HERALD
Ref: UH/1041
Published Date: 01-Aug-02
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