Villiers’ statement a deliberate denigration of victims

Once again those affected by state violence find their experience excluded
Once again those affected by state violence find their experience excluded
Once again those affected by state violence find their experience excluded

Relatives for Justice is currently composing a comprehensive response to the comments of Secretary of State Villiers after her statement yesterday.
However there is one particular and immediate point to be made.
Victims of state actions and of collusion are not engaged in the pursuit of a “Pernicious counter narrative” .
They are, through no choice of their own, engaged in the pursuit of truth and acknowledgement. Rights enshrined in covenants to which the British Government is a signatory. And the very least any of us can offer them is dignity and respect.
One line in particular deserves immediate comment.
When Ms Villiers says that
“It wasn’t the RUC or the Army who planted the bombs at La Mon, Enniskillen, or the Shankill, or pulled the triggers at Loughinisland or Greysteel.”
Emma Rogan, whose father Adrian was murdered in Loughinisland has rightly said:
” But it was the British army who imported the weapons and it was the RUC who failed to follow intelligence on those weapons leaving them in circulation to commit these atrocities.
“It was RUC agents who pulled the triggers and it was the RUC who failed to investigate the murder of my father.
“It was the RUC who destroyed the getaway car after 18 months, denying future police investigations the opportunity to test for DNA”.
Yesterday’s speech contains many separate elements to which we will be formally responding – but RFJ will not stand by and allow the deliberate denigration of victims and their rights in favour of a political stunt.