15/07/2016

Call For Republican Tony Taylor To Be Released From Prison

The new NI Secretary of State James Brokenshire is being urged to release republican Tony Taylor from prison.

Mr Taylor was released from Maghaberry Prison in 2014 after serving a three year sentence for possessing a rifle.

In 1994, he was sentenced to 18 years in prison after he was seriously injured in a premature explosion in Derry. He was released under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement.

Sinn Féin MLA Martin McGuinness said: "Tony Taylor was returned to prison on the word of previous British Secretary of State Theresa Villiers without any evidence being presented.

"The arrest and imprisonment without recourse to due process is a practice that is totally unacceptable and needs to end immediately.

"I will be raising the issue with new British Secretary of State James Brokenshire and demanding that Tony Taylor is either released immediately or brought before a court and given due process."

(CD)

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