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Gerry Adams has told the high court that opponents of Sinn Féin have repeatedly sought to conflate the political party he led with the IRA, as he denied ever being a member of the Irish Republican Army.
Giving evidence in London watched by victims of IRA bombings, the 77-year-old, credited with helping to bring about the peace process that ended the Troubles, also rejected accusations that he had ever led the paramilitary organisation or sat on its army council.
Adams is being sued for symbolic “vindicatory” damages of £1 each by John Clark, Jonathan Ganesh and Barry Laycock. They claim he was an IRA member, sat on its army council and was culpable for the 1973 Old Bailey bombing, and the London Docklands and Manchester bombings in 1996 in which they were respectively injured.
Adams, who entered the witness box wearing a shamrock and a badge of the Palestinian flag, said in his witness statement: “To be clear, membership of the political party, Sinn Féin, does not equate to membership of the IRA.
“Sinn Féin is a political party that seeks a whole range of political objectives, including an end to partition and Irish unity. Throughout my life, opponents of Sinn Féin have repeatedly sought to conflate Sinn Féin with the IRA. As I have always stated, Sinn Féin and the IRA are separate organisations.”
Adams wished the judge, Mr Justice Swift, “a very happy St Patrick’s Day” after entering the witness box on Tuesday.
The judge later admonished Adams when the defendant said: “Can I just say? I see Mr Laycock in court today; I was extremely moved by his testimony.” Swift told Adams not to make statements and to stick to answering questions.
Cross-examining Adams on the behalf of the claimants, Sir Max Hill KC put it to him that he had “chosen to stand by the IRA” over a long period. The former Sinn Féin leader replied: “If your neighbourhood was invaded and occupied some patriotic Englishmen would form themselves in some sort of a resistance movement … I am glad that there is a peace process but I do not distance myself from the IRA, while being very, very clear that there were dastardly things that were done that should never have been done.”
Hill said: “I suggest that you stand by the IRA because you were a member.”
Adams replied: “I stand by the African National Congress [ANC] but there’s no suggestion I’m a member of them. I stand by the PLO [Palestine Liberation Organisation] but there’s no suggestion I’m a member of them.”
At one point Hill accused Adams of “rewriting history” when the defendant insisted that a delegation of which he was a part, which held talks with the UK government in 1972, was made up entirely of Sinn Féin members.
Hill said that Sean Mac Stíofáin, whom Adams had previously acknowledged was the “self-professed” chief of staff of the IRA and who also attended the talks, had written in his 1975 book that Adams and others were nominated to be part of the delegation as representatives of the IRA.
In his written statement, Adams said: “Although I deny categorically the allegations made by the claimants of my involvement in those bombings in any way, nothing in this statement should be taken as criticism of the claimants, or as any attempt to deny or diminish their awful experiences.”
The hearing continues.
