'Admit using nerve gas on prisoners'
A former republican prisoner from Derry has called on the British Government to admit that it tested a notorious nerve gas on Long Kesh prisoners.
Gerry McCartney, who has suffered from respiratory illness COPD for the last decade, believes his health problems are direct result of being exposed to CR gas during a prison riot in 1974.
It's understood that quite a number of those allegedly exposed to the nerve agent have developed serious illnesses, including cancer patient, Belfast man John McMullan who has called on the British Government to reveal the contents of the gas.
In October of 1974, Mr. McCartney was among a group of prisoners - which included Belfast man John McMullan - who tried to burn the Long Kesh internment camp in a dispute over prison visits. It's long been claimed by republicans that British army helicopters dropped dozens of canisters of CR gas on to the prisoners.
"It was nothing like CS gas, which the British Government claimed they had used. With the CR gas our eyes nearly popped out of our heads, we couldn't breath at all. Every prisoner dropped to the ground, everyone was choking. The effects were unbelievably horrendous."
He explained that the incident took place on the morning after the fire when the prisoners were "exhausted and enclosed within the prison football pitch".
"The battle was over and they had regained control of the prison - therefore it was no longer an operational type but a testing type operation.
"In 1999 John Spellar (then Armed Forces Minister) said that British Army had never used CR gas in an operational capacity and later reaffirmed that. However, he later admitted that some hand-held canisters of CR gas were available to troops in Long Kesh. Spellar also said in 1999 that samples were being held because it proved to be effective in a test situation, in an anti terrorist situation. Where were they tested then, well the logical place was Long Kesh and it's about time the British Government admitted what they did there."
It's long been claimed that in the days following the riot army doctors took blood samples from republican and loyalist prisoners, although the British Government still deny that.
"There's massive cover up of the use of CR gas and that can only be due to its after effects. Myself and quite a number of prisoners there at the time suffer from respiratory illnesses and other diseases such as cancer. Even my four children have asthma," he added.
Mr. McCartney, who was the last Derry internee released on the final day of Internment in 1975, is now calling on former British soldiers and prison officers present on the day to ensure the truth comes out.
"I saw quite a few without masks and I would say some of them have also suffered from the effects."
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Friday 25 May 2012
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