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Giovane ucciso da IRA nel 1973 non era un informatore

Murdered teen’s family welcome admission he was not an informer

IRA APOLOGY ‘VICTIM WAS INNOCENT’

Bernard TeggertTHE family of a west Belfast teenager murdered by the IRA more than 30 years ago last night said that his name had finally been cleared.

Bernard Teggert, from the New Barnsley area, was just 15 years old when he was abducted and killed by the IRA, which claimed at the time that he had been a security force informant.

In 1973 the teenager was kidnapped from a Glen Road training school and later found with gunshot wounds to the head in north Belfast. A piece of paper with the word “tout” written on it was pinned to his chest.

In 2004 the organisation admitted responsibility for his death and apologised to the Teggert family for the pain and grief it had caused.

It is now said that senior republicans have in addition confirmed to the family that they accept Bernard was not an informer.

Last night the family said that it was now “very clear that Bernard was innocent” and that his name had been cleared.

Regrets about the killing and an acknowledgement that it should never have happened have also been repeated by the republican sources.

In a statement released through Relatives for Justice, the Teggert family said the latest admission by the IRA finally showed that Bernard was an “innocent victim”.

“We the family welcome the statement and all of its contents,” it said.

“Following a thorough investigation it is very clear that Bernard was innocent and should not have been murdered and now Bernard’s name has been cleared.”

News reports from the time of Bernard’s death said that he had seen IRA members hijacking a beer lorry in west Belfast and after witnessing them hold a gun to the driver’s head, he shouted at them to leave the man alone.

When British soldiers coincidentally arrived on the scene and captured the IRA members, it appeared that Bernard was later blamed.

The teenager’s death was the second tragedy to hit his family. Two years earlier Bernard’s father Danny was shot and killed by British army soldiers who opened fire on the Springfield Road, one of 11 people who were killed by British forces during the army’s initial internment without trial operation in August 1971.

The Teggert family also said that they would continue their campaign to clear their father’s name.

“As in Bernard’s case we are also involved in a campaign to clear the name of our father and the rest of the Ballymurphy Massacre victims murdered in August 1971,” the statement said.

“We hope that following this process the British state will have the decency to come clean and clear our father’s name and declare all of the victims of the Ballymurphy Massacre innocent, just as republicans have done today in relation to our 15-year-old brother’s murder.”

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René Querin

Di professione grafico e web designer, sono appassionato di trekking e innamorato dell'Irlanda e della sua storia. Insieme ad Andrea Varacalli ho creato e gestisco Les Enfants Terribles.

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