European court throws out appeal by duo involved in Omagh bombing
A BID by two republicans to overturn a landmark civil ruling that found them responsible for the Omagh bomb has been rejected by the European Court of Human Rights.
Convicted Real IRA chief Michael McKevitt and Co Louth man Liam Campbell were two of four republicans ordered to pay £1.6m in damages to bereaved relatives who took the historic case.
The Real IRA outrage in the Co Tyrone market town in August 1998 killed 29 people, including a woman pregnant with twins, and injured 200 others.
The pair took their case to Europe, arguing that the civil trial in Belfast High Court had been unfair.
They said the judge should have applied a criminal rather than a civil standard of proof, due to the severity of the allegations, and further claimed that the evidence of an FBI agent heard during the trial should have been omitted.
The seven ECHR judges unanimously rejected the case and made clear their decision was final.
“The applicants had not demonstrated that their trial was unfair, and the court dismissed their applications,” said an ECHR statement.
McKevitt was jailed for 20 years in August 2003 after being convicted of directing a terrorist organisation and being a member of the Real IRA.
The ECHR case was the latest in a series of separate attempts by the four defendants to overturn the 2009 civil judgment.
No one has ever been criminally convicted of the bomb, the worst single atrocity of the Troubles.
Michael Gallagher, whose son Aiden was killed in the blast, described the ruling as “vindication” for the families.
“We feel like we have been under siege since the first judgment, with appeal after appeal,” he said.
“We are relieved it is now over. The families have been vindicated.
“Enormous expense has been paid by taxpayers to make sure these people got the best of British and European justice.
“The British and Irish Governments must now make sure the interests of the victims come first.”
He said the authorities had to help the families recover the money owed to them.
“It would be a very hollow judgment if it was only words,” he said.
DUP MEP Diane Dodds said it was unfair that the men had access to legal aid to fight their case in Europe.
“The reality is whilst these individuals had full access to legal aid during the appeal process, the families of those murdered in the Omagh bombing have not received a single penny from the civil ruling,” she added.