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Britain

Two Belfast Men Charged in IRA Killing

2005-06-03

Two Belfast men were charged Friday in the IRA-linked knife slaying of a Catholic man and the injury of his friend outside a pub earlier this year, the first breakthrough in a case that has overshadowed Northern Ireland's peace process for months. A 49-year-old man will face a charge of murdering Robert McCartney, while a 36-year-old man will be charged with the attempted murder of Brendan Devine, police said. The arraignment was set for Saturday in Belfast Crown Court. McCartney's sisters — who have taken their campaign to the White House and the European Parliament — said they were stunned by the news — but emphasized that their mission for justice still had a long way to go. "We hope it will lead to further arrests, because there were more than two people involved. We still have a long way to go in terms of a trial and convictions," said Catherine McCartney. "We are happy this has happened, but we know it is by no means over." The Irish Republican Army initially denied involvement, then admitted its members committed the attack after facing public pressure from McCartney's five sisters and fiancee. Since then members of the IRA and its allied Sinn Fein party have faced criticism internationally for allegedly covering up evidence and refusing to cooperate with the police investigation.

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Britain

IRA Said to Threaten Slain Man's Family

2005-05-22

Members of the outlawed Irish Republican Army are threatening to attack a Belfast family that has been focusing international attention on the IRA's killing of a Catholic man, sisters of the victim said Friday. The five sisters and fiancee of Robert McCartney, who was fatally stabbed and clubbed by IRA members outside a Belfast pub Jan. 30, have spent the past four months campaigning to bring his killers to justice. While the McCartney family's efforts have won praise and support from the European Parliament and White House, back home in their hard-line neighborhood, witnesses to the attack have either been afraid or unwilling to give evidence to police. One of the sisters, Catherine McCartney, said Friday detectives had told the family of a threat from the IRA. "This threat implies that (Irish) republican elements are going to take action against the McCartney family if they continue to discredit the (Sinn Fein-IRA) republican movement," Catherine McCartney said. Way too late for that, I'd say.

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Britain

Sinn Fein Leader Wants Victims Family to Shaddup!

2005-03-15

A Sinn Fein leader publicly criticized the family of a Catholic man killed by IRA members, warning Monday that their relentless campaign for an arrest in his death could diminish donations for his terrorist buddies support for their cause. Better shut up, or the boyos might beat them to death... The comments from Sinn Fein's deputy leader, Martin McGuinness, came as the party admitted that another of its candidates was in the pub where Irish Republican Army members launched the fatal assault on Robert McCartney. A campaign by McCartney's five sisters to have his killers brought to justice has focused attention on the outlawed IRA's continued grip on hard-line Catholic parts of Belfast, where telling police about IRA activities can mean a death sentence. Catherine McCartney, one of the sisters, on Monday accused Sinn Fein of continually trying to conceal and downplay its members' role in the attack. "I find it hard to believe that we've been campaigning for six weeks and still not a single person has been charged with Robert's murder," she said in an interview in her sister Paula's home in Short Strand, an IRA power base that is home to several of the IRA figures who allegedly attacked their brother. Though the party has offered to shoot the guys... But McGuinness, an alleged IRA commander, said in what were Sinn Fein's first publicly critical comments of the family: "The McCartneys need to be very careful. To step over that line, which is a very important line, into the world of party-political politics can do a huge disservice to their campaign." "Dey could end up dead!" He said if they continued to make direct challenges to Sinn Fein, which is the largest Catholic-backed party in Northern Ireland, they would sleep wit da fishes "dismay and disillusion an awful lot of people, tens of thousands of people who support them in their just demands." "So youse better button yer lip!"

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