PPS DECISION NOT PROSECUTE PERJURY ALLEGATIONS ARISING FROM STAKEKNIFE OPERATION KENOVA INVESTIGATION
KRW LAW LLP (KRW) act in 23 cases connected to the decision taken today by the Public Prosecution Service (PPS) to direct no prosecution against four persons on allegations of perjury arising from the investigation known as Operation Kenova.
The PPS have made a decision not to prosecute a member of the PPS, for perjury. This decision now needs immediate external, international and independent examination, as there are too many institutional vested interests engaged.
This decision by the PPS will come as no surprise to families of those bereaved or otherwise affected by the activities of the alleged State agent known as ‘’Stakeknife‘’. It is consistent with similar decision-making on the terrorist activities of other alleged State agents and their handlers.
The direction not to prosecute was based on evidential reasons and not on a public interest test. That distinction is significant because it makes the decision less susceptible to public challenge through the courts.
Speaking to day, Kevin Winters, Solicitor and Senior Partner KRW, said
‘’We will examine this decision of the PPS carefully as it impacts on further pending decisions on other murder cases plus there are concerns about the legal reasoning deployed. However, if the out- workings from this decision today is the prospect of an earlier release of a public report into the activities of Stakeknife then much of the frustration felt by families may dissipate.
The decision may assist Operation Kenova to address the wider systemic issues of British military penetration of the PIRA Internal Security Unit. That will be of some value to those families we act for.
That is the challenge today for Jon Boutcher, who leads Operation Kenova. If anything the decision today increases the pressure on him to deliver the sort of findings that will provide the families with clear and unambiguous findings which will contribute to their understanding, which for the bereaved, as in hundreds of Conflict-related Legacy cases, is long overdue.”