Special Criminal Court – No Jury. No Justice!
On Wednesday night, 23rd June, the TDs of Leinster House voted for the renewal of the Special Criminal Court. 86 voted in favour, 7 against, 5 abstained and Sinn Fein walked out, refusing to cast a vote on legislation that they have historically opposed.
The Special Criminal Court is a non-jury court established under the Offences Against the State Act, an Act created as a means to imprison republicans by the Free State. The Special Court in its current form was established in the early 1970s and was aimed as a way of attacking the IRA.
The legitimacy of the Special Court has been criticised by human rights observers, the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, Amnesty International and the United Nations Commission for Human Rights.
Dave Walsh of Lasair Dhearg Dublin said that “Wednesday night’s vote shows that Leinster House and the Free State is still determined in its age-old campaign against republicans, to deny Irish citizens the basic human right of a fair trial. What is even more insulting in this latest vote is the one time revolutionary party that refused to cast a vote despite being grounded in an organisation that this legislation sought to destroy, it is yet another example of a poacher turned gamekeeper and further demonstrates the inability to reform Leinster House from within.
Dave concluded by saying that “the only solution to injustice and the infringements of civil liberties in both failed states in Ireland is by the establishment of a 32 county socialist republic, it is that ideal that the Free State fear and seek to destroy. Leinster House will never deliver the liberation of the Irish working class, that objective only comes with the smashing of the gombeen state: smash Leinster House”.
