Donnelly sentence ‘savage’ – 32 CSM
The 32 County Sovereignty Movement has hit out at what they described as ‘the savage sentence’ imposed on leading dissident republican Gary Donnelly.
On Thursday Donnelly was sentenced to seven months in prison as a result of his appeal against his conviction for assaulting a PSNI Inspector. Donnelly got a broken arm in the incident.
The dissident republican group said: “This sentence clearly shows that the courts are going to play their part in imprisoning republicans. Gary Donnelly was assaulted and ended up with a broken arm yet he gets the heaviest sentence that you can for this sort of charge.
“It is ridiculous that the RUC/PSNI can go around attacking republicans then drag them into court where they get imprisoned as well as assaulted. When this was originally heard the judge described the incident as at the lower end of the scale yet Gary Donnelly ends up with this sentence. This sentence only confirms that republicans can expect no justice when they go before British courts.”
The incident happened when Donnelly was stopped by a police patrol in Foyle Street in November 2007. The court heard that his injury was “nasty, serious and painful”. During the two trials police witnesses said they could not account for how Donnelly’s arm was broken.
