Breatnach conviction a miscarriage of justice
Human-rights organisations have welcomed a decision by the Court of Appeal to grant Osgur Breatnach a miscarriage-of-justice certificate in relation to his wrongful conviction for the 1976 Sallins train robbery.
Three of the six men accused and detained after the robbery were convicted.
Breatnach was found guilty in December 1978 but his conviction was overturned a year and a half later after a court found that his confession had been obtained under oppression.
All three convicted men claimed that they were forced to sign confessions after beatings by a garda unit known as the Heavy Gang.
The Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL), Amnesty International Ireland, the Committee on the Administration of Justice (CAJ), Fair Trials, and the Pat Finucane Centre, have long supported the six ‘Sallins Men’– two of whom are dead.
‘Significant step forward’
ICCL, Amnesty International Ireland, and Fair Trials were all in attendance outside the court today.
Speaking on behalf of the five organisations, ICCL executive director Joe O’Brien described the court’s decision as “a significant step forward” in Breatnach’s quest for justice and accountability.
“While today it has finally been recognised that a miscarriage of justice occurred, the Government still refuses to investigate the grievous wrongs that were committed against the men,” said O’Brien.
“Impunity for those involved has been facilitated by ongoing failures to properly investigate not just what happened to these men, but why and at whose behest,” he added.
Call for public investigation
O’Brien repeated the organisations’ call for a “public, independent, and human rights-compliant” investigation into the case of the Sallins Men.
“They have endured inhuman and degrading treatment arising from their detention, torture, imprisonment, and vilification of their characters. And yet the Irish State has systematically failed to address their treatment and the failure of the systems which enabled this treatment to occur,” he stated.
The five organisations have urged the Minister for Justice to reconsider his position – he has said that the case is historic and has ruled out a commission of investigation.