Counsel urges defence ministry to `come out from hiding place'

The British Ministry of Defence was urged yesterday to "come out from its hiding place" and co-operate fully and openly with …

The British Ministry of Defence was urged yesterday to "come out from its hiding place" and co-operate fully and openly with the inquiry.

Ms Eilish MacDermott QC, representing the family of Mr Patrick Doherty, one of the 13 men shot dead by soldiers on Bloody Sunday, suggested it was "in the highest degree incredible" that the Ministry of Defence (MoD) was not represented before the tribunal.

She pointed out that there were counsel representing individual soldiers, and one set of counsel representing more than 400, but on Bloody Sunday "these were not individuals - they were an army acting under orders and Patrick Doherty was murdered by them".

Counsel added: "On the one hand the (British) government has said that this is a tribunal set up to establish the truth; on the other hand the government department which knows the truth and which is responsible for the operation is not even here, is still refusing almost 30 years later to come out into the light of day and tell the truth."

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This was nothing short of a public disgrace, she said, asking what guarantee the Doherty family could have that the MoD had disclosed every document. It had emerged already that the MoD had ordered the destruction of rifles used on Bloody Sunday - apparently after giving an undertaking to the tribunal to preserve all relevant evidence.

Counsel suggested that there was a question about missing documents and witnesses.

Apart from the MoD documents, where were the memos or reports which must have passed between senior military figures and the (British) Cabinet in the aftermath of Bloody Sunday, she asked. "Where is the statement, for example, from John Taylor, chairman of the Joint Security Committee in Northern Ireland at the relevant time?" counsel asked. "What documents were destroyed? Why were they destroyed? By whom?"

Ms MacDermott outlined the basis of the Doherty family's fears that the MoD "is simply not co-operating with the tribunal and, indeed, is attempting actively to obstruct it".

She said they hoped there would be no more lies - "only total and utter transparency and accountability will suffice. . .We say that the truth about Bloody Sunday was and is undoubtedly known to senior army officers and senior politicians of the day. It could be written on a sheet of paper if the political will to do so existed."

Counsel also commented that "in any society in which the rule of law prevailed, a murder investigation would have been started on the Sunday afternoon (of the killings)".

Mr Michael Topolski, who appeared with Ms MacDermott on behalf of the Doherty family, said their submission was that "put quite simply, Patrick Doherty was murdered". He had been shot while crawling unarmed and helpless away from his assailant.

Mr Doherty, aged 32, had six children and was a steward at the civil rights march in Derry on January 30th, 1972, at which British troops shot 13 civilians dead and injured a similar number, one of whom died several months later.