Ploughshares Trial Day 5.

national | anti-war / imperialism | news report Friday October 28, 2005 23:33 by Court Reporter

Ciaron O'Reilly takes stand in short sitting.

To let the jurors get away for the bank holiday, it was a short sitting today.
The defence has made a brief opening of its case yesterday afternoon. Today Ciaron started his testimony in the witness box, but interruptions by legal argument mean that he'll be back there on Tuesday too.
The following is a summary based on court notes

Ciaron O'Reilly was called to the witness stand at 10.07 this morning, for a long two hours of questions and cross examination.

Firstly, his own barrister asked him to outline his age and origins, and background.
Mr. O'Reilly informed the court that he was from Brisbane, Australia, born in 1960 (he had his 40th birthday during the original trial in March)
He outlined his education, how he had become interested and involved in the Catholic Worker Movement while in University, and had been in Catholic Worker communities tending to the poor, homeless in Brisbane, New York, Los Angeles, Washington D.C and Philladelphia.
He spoke about how in late 1990 he witnessed the build up for the 'Gulf War' of 1991, the mobilisation of troops, and deployment of B-52 bombers.

He came to Ireland in 2002 and worked with a Catholic Worker community here, and got a job working with young heroin addicts, and later working in a 'wet shelter' working with homeless people with alcohol addictions.
He said that he had initially assumed that Ireland was a neutral country, but had heard about, and later seen US military traffic at Shannon Airport. He mentioned meeting people who had been monitoring US military use of Shannon Airport.

When asked his purpose in going to the hangar, Mr.O'Reilly said that during the build up to the assault on Iraq, he had met people who'd been to Iraq, such as Michael Birmingham, Farah Mokhtareizadeh, and Kathy Kelly.
They felt a need to prepare a non-violent response, and spent 4 days in contemplation in Glenstal Abbey in Co. Limerick.
They were deciding between going to Iraq, or doing something in Ireland. As none of the group speaks Arabic, it was decidedthey would be more useful here, and chose to do an act of disarmament in Ireland.

Mr. O'Reilly was asked about his beliefs about the situation in Iraq at that time.
He said that he did not believe that the 1991 Gulf War had really ended, that the mass bombardment of early 1991, had been replaced by periodic but frequent bombing attacks and crippling sanctions, enforced by the US Navy, which had resulted in the deaths of over 500,000 children.
Mr. O'Reilly said that as part of the shrine outside the hangar he had brought tapes, - one of which was John Pilger's documentary "Paying the Price" - and other information to show what was happening in Iraq.
He said that the photos in the Shrine were photos of chilren killed and injured by bombing or damaged by sanctions.
The prosecution objected, but was told that the mother on one of the children pictured is expected to be in court next week, to testify if necessary.
Questioned about the purpose of the Shrine, Mr. O'Reilly said that it was primarily to commemorate and honour those who had died. That the Bible and Koran were there to reject the idea that the sacred texts supported the war, and that the fruit and flowers were there to represent life.

Mr. O'Reilly was asked about entering the SRS hangar at Shannon. He said that when they got to the main hangar door, the managed to lift the heavy roller door about 6 inches, just enough to peer under and see a US Navy jet inside, that they sprayed a quote from Phil Berrigan, a recently deceased peace activist, a marked the hangar "Pitstop for Death", thus 'naming it for what it was'.
Mr. O'Reilly said that they felt that this was an emergency situation, and that the purpose of their action was to disable the aircraft, as it was part of the war maching that had already killed so many, and was about to kill even more, and that they "acted to preserve life, social infrastructure and property"
Mr. O'Reilly said that they were aware of the plane in the hangar, as it was well lit when they peered under the door. He said that he had been aware that Garda Siochana Special Branch armed with Uzis had been present at the airport, and that they entered cautiously, but did not find much security when they went in, and he did not even see the Garda in the hangar until after he had started to disarm the aircraft.
Mr. O'Reilly said that he was using a mattock to disarm the aircraft, and it had inscribed upon it a quote from Catholic Worker founder Dorothy Day ""If they come for the innocent without stepping over your body, cursed be your religion and your life".
When asked to explain this, Mr. O'Reilly said that it was an emphasis on taking responsibility to help others.
He said that he knew that the action would ground the plane, and that after 5-6 minutes of beating on the aircraft, the group knew it would definitely have to be grounded. "We formed a cirlce of prayer, and put the tools outside the circle so the Garda Siochana wouldn't have to reach in when they arrived."
As for the Garda already in the hangar, Mr. O'Reilly said that they had comforted him, assuring him that they were a non-violent group, and had invited him to join in the disarmament action.
Mr. O'Reilly said that they offered no resistance to the Gardai who came to arrest them.
Mr. O'Hanlon, (a senior counsel for the defence) asked Mr. O'Reilly about a statement given during a Garda Interview, where Mr. O'Reilly had made reference to disarming a weapon, and had replied that it was a US warplane, part of the forces responsible for suffering in Iraq.
Mr. O'Reilly acknowleged making that reference.
Mr. O'Hanlon asked what Mr. O'Reilly belived the effect of the act might be.
Mr. O'Reilly said that the intended effect was to save lives.
He was asked if it was his honestly held belief if he was trying to stop a crime and save lives by this action at Shannon. He replied "Yes, that's correct".

After outlining how he had met the other members of the group, Mr. O'Reilly was asked if he had been aware at the time of his action of US military use of Shannon.
Mr. O'Reilly said that he had become aware of it personally, and had also met people including Edward Horgan, and Tim Hourigan and was aware of their monitoring and criminal complaints made by them in relation to US military use of Shannon.

At 10.32 Conor Devally S.C. began the cross examination on behalf of the prosecution.

He asked the purpose of the shrine and was told that it was primarily to remember those who had already died.
He asked if it had symbolic value, and if the defendant believed that it would be found.
Mr. O'Reilly replied that it had symbolic value, that he had hoped that it would cause the airport staff, Gardai or whoever to reflect on what was happening.
Mr. Devally asked if he expected the shrine to be found by the Garda Siochana
"Possibly by them or airport staff" replied the defendant.

Mr. Devally put it to him that they "went in there armed with hammers"
"I'd say we were equipped, not armed" replied Mr. O'Reilly.

Mr. Devally asked a series of questions, some repeatedly, where he asked if using hammers without the inscriptions would have done the same damage to the aircraft, which was acknowledged.
Mr. Devally asked why they had tekn time to make a shrine, and put a 'slogan' on the hangar.
Mr. O'Reilly said that there was an act of disarmament, and also a cause for reflection, and that the writing on the hangar was to "name it for what it is"

"Who would read this?" asked the prosecutor.

"Airport staff, the Garda Siochana and soldiers guarding the airport. " replied Mr. O'Reilly

Mr. Devally asked if hitting a plane with a mattock was a violent act.
Mr. O'Reilly said that it was not a violent act if the plane was part of preparation for war.
"Do you assume a moral meaning to the word violence?" asked Mr. Devally
"My understanding is that it refers to violation, of people"
There was some debate on the meaning of the word which ended with Ciaron comparing it to a fireman using an axe to break the door of a burning building, and saying that he would not consider that a violent act.

Mr Devally asked if Mr. O'Reilly had expected to be arrested.

Mr. O'Reilly said that he had hoped not to be arrested, and had hoped that instead that the Garda Siochana would join in the action, much like the soldiers and police in Germany had joined in when people started to hammer down the Berlin Wall.

Mr. Devally repeatedly asked Mr. O'Reilly if he expected to be arrested, (maybe 7-10 times) and getting a similar answer each time, sometimes including Mr. O'Reilly stating that from his knowledge of human character, that sometimes people will respond to an invitation to do the right thing.

When asked again, he said that he thought that the war could be stopped if people reflected on the situation and acted out of conscience, and that it had happened before that police had joined in actions.

When asked if he thought it was a possibility of being arrested, like Mary Kelly had been the week before at Shannon, Mr O'Reilly said that there were all sorts of possibilities that occured to him, that they might be arrested, that they might be shot, and other possibilities that night. He said that if he thought that his action had no possibility at all of causing a change, or perhaps causing people to stop and reflect, that he would not have done it.

Through a long line of questioning Mr. Devally asked if the real intention was to get arrested, have a court case and bring publicity to 'the cause' and to "put the war on trial" - a phrase quoted from an interview on Democracy Now! where Amy Goodman interviewed Ciaron

Mr. O'Reilly said that the action was to save life, and that the reference to "War On Trial" referred to a series of eveining meetings, public talks in Dublin, in Trinity College, under that name, and publicised on a website of that name, referring to events outside the court, that the judge is running events inside the court, not Mr. O'Reilly. He also added that the website had been later changed to "Peace On Trial" to avoid confusion, and that Mr.Devally's remarks about it in March, had made some input to that, and that there are more talks under that title again in TCD in the evenings.

When asked why they had not fled the scene, Mr. O'Reilly said that people in ploughshares actions take responsibility for their actions, and ask other people to take responsibility for their actions.

Mr. Devally put it to the defendant that his actions were politically motivated.
Mr. O'Reilly responded that his actions were religiously, spiritually and morally motivated.

Mr. Devally said tat Mr. O'Reilly disagreed with the US military use of Shannon, believed it to be unconstitutional and criticised the lack of Garda Action.
Mr O'Reilly said that he thought that the aircraft should have been inspected.

In relation to the Garda Interview, Mr. Devally said that Mr. O'Reilly had said that he did not believe that it was a genuine search for truth, and had labelled it a cover-up of crimes at Shannon.


to be continued....