Sinn Féin MP Chris Hazzard has said recent revelations from the Investigatory Powers Tribunal in London has again revealed the extent of British state collusion in denying families truth and justice.

Following the release of documents at yesterday’s tribunal which revealed there had been routine surveillance of journalists and the PSNI sought to cover-up the extent of collusion in cases such as the Loughinisland Massacre, the South Down MP said:

“It is deeply disturbing that the PSNI withheld key information during the Loughinisland investigation, and only gave the Police Ombudsman information which ‘suited’ the PSNI. 

“This is yet another shocking example of the lengths that police and state bodies have gone to deny families truth and justice, and instead have sought to criminalise journalists for doing their job. 

“While they were working on the documentary ‘No Stone Unturned’, it is becoming increasingly clear the British state launched an extensive covert surveillance operation to silence journalists Trevor Birney and Barry McCaffrey. 

“It is not lost on the people of South Down that the time, effort and resources deployed by the British state to suppress investigatory journalists stands in stark contrast to the abysmal failure to investigate the murder of six men watching a football match in Loughinisland in 1994.”