Panel finds evidence of British army, police collusion in deaths

Published: 2006-11-09

DUBLIN, Ireland (CNS) -- An international panel of human rights lawyers found evidence of British army and police collusion in the deaths of 74 Catholics in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. The panel, headed by Douglas Cassel, a law professor at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, examined 25 cases of loyalist paramilitary violence between 1972 and 1977 and found evidence of collusion by the Royal Ulster Constabulary, Northern Ireland's former police force, and the Ulster Defense Regiment, the British army's former military force in Northern Ireland. The report was published in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and Dublin Nov. 8. Cassel said the families of the victims are demanding the full truth. The families want to know "why were members of their family targeted, and by whom and at what level was it approved?" he said. The families also are asking the British government to publicly acknowledge the collusion and apologize.

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