STATEMENT BY ED MOLONEY ON PSNI CHARGING OF WINSTON REA – June 6, 2016
Today’s arraignment of Winston Rea is a cynical attempt by the PSNI to show even-handedness in their pursuit of the Boston College tapes.
Available evidence shows that the PSNI only moved against Mr Rea – nearly four years after the first subpoena was served against Dolours Price – when the force’s handling of the Boston College archive was criticised by establishment figures in Irish-America for being one-sided.
Mr Rea is in the unfortunate position of being the ‘token Prod’, to be sacrificed to protect the PSNI’s image and to preserve establishment Irish-American support for the force.
The decision to prosecute Mr Rea was taken for solely political reasons.
Meanwhile the damage done by the PSNI to any credible effort to tell the truth about the Troubles is now beyond calculation, thanks to this blinkered pursuit of alleged activists, both state and non-state, via criminal prosecution.
Who in their right minds would contribute to a truth-telling process in Northern Ireland in such circumstances? Thanks to the PSNI it seems Northern Ireland is forever condemned to be haunted and cursed by unanswered questions from the past.
