New hope for Connel man Billy in Indian prison hell
Argyll and the Isles march to remember the fallen
CONNEL ex-para Billy Irving is expecting to hear within 14 days whether he will be released from an Indian prison in time for Christmas.
The Supreme Court of India indicated that it wanted to accelerate the Chennai Six’s appeal process, where the High Court judge will have a fortnight to come to a decision.
Billy and five other British ex-servicemen were sentenced to five years in an Indian prison in January 2016.
The men, known as the Chennai Six, were working as armed guards protecting ships from Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean.
Authorities arrested the crew of the MV Seaman Guard Ohio for straying into Indian waters with unlicensed weapons.
Including the Chennai Six, 35 men in total were arrested – 14 Estonians, 12 Indians, and three Ukrainians.
The Ukrainian captain has terminal cancer and it was his case that was being heard in front of the Supreme Court of India this week.
Billy’s fiancée, Yvonne MacHugh surprised him with a visit this week. Speaking about the news in a video, Yvonne said: ‘It’s really exciting. I have been on such a high all day.
‘There have been a lot of lows while we have been here. It’s obviously very exhausting, but at the same time to get this news while we’re here and to be able to have the privilege and the honour of going in tomorrow and telling the men themselves and seeing how happy they will be about it.
‘It’s just going to give them such a lift. I think it fills us all with hope that we will get our Christmas wish and we could have the men home, so fingers crossed everyone.’
Stephen Askins, of London marine solicitors Tatham Macinnes, said: ‘The matter went forward to the Supreme Court to try to get the captain out.’
The captain’s case will reappear tomorrow (Friday November 17).
‘The Supreme Court indicated they wanted the appeal, which we have been waiting for, to be expedited,’ Mr Askins added. ‘They expect him to issue his judgement within 14 days.
‘This puts [the judge] under pressure, but it does give some encouragement that the Supreme Court have decided enough is enough on this. It’s good news that the families have been waiting for for 11 months.
‘We just need a judgement so we can move things forward. We don’t know how things will go, but it does finally seem like there’s a little bit of momentum.’
Argyll and Bute MSP Michael Russell said: ‘It is long past time Billy and the others were home. Yvonne and her fellow campaigners have done wonders but the UK Government needs to up the ante now and make it clear that whatever the initial problems, the delays, confusions and contradictions of the courts in India are completely unacceptable and contrary to the basic principles of justice.
‘The Scottish Government takes that view and I know my Westminster colleague Brendan O’Hara has been doing his best to get a response from the UK Government that matches the seriousness of the situation.
‘Those efforts need to continue, backed by the campaign of the families and the whole of Argyll and Scotland. The Chennai Six and their colleagues must be released without any more delay.’
Mr O’Hara, MP for Argyll and Bute, said: ‘Earlier this month I went to Downing Street with Billy’s family to plead with the UK Government to do more to secure his release from jail. This visit followed shortly after my seventh meeting with my third Foreign Office minister in just two years.
‘With very recent events now clearing the path for a diplomatic intervention, the UK Government needs to pull its finger out.
‘I am in regular contact with Yvonne but the fact this has been ongoing since I first became Billy’s MP in 2015 smacks of diplomatic inertia.
‘I’ve promised Yvonne that I will continue to do whatever I can as his MP to secure his release as quickly as possible.’