Posted by WALKS FREE |
Man accused of threatening to burn down Russian embassy in Dublin has ‘no regrets’
Diplomats fail to turn up for embassy threat case
Yesterday at 07:03
RUSSIAN diplomats would have faced questions about alleged war crimes in the Ukraine had they turned up to give evidence against a man accused of threatening to burn down their embassy.
Community worker Brian Murphy walked free from Dublin District Court on Monday after it emerged embassy officials had not only failed to turn up for the hearing but had also failed to engage with prosecutors.
Speaking with the Sunday World, Brian — who wore a ‘Slava Ukraini’ (Glory to Ukraine) t-shirt for his court appearance — said he did not, despite a ‘year of trauma,’ regret posting the messages.
“Do I regret communicating my distaste and horror at what was happening in the Ukraine – the answer is no,” he said.
“I wouldn’t wish the last year of stress and anxiety I’ve suffered on anybody.
“But when you weigh it up or compare it to the suffering of the millions of refugees [from this war] then my stress over the past year pales into insignificance.”
At an earlier procedural hearing in the case on November 7, Garda Austin Larkin alleged messages were sent to the Russian embassy’s Facebook account “threatening staff in relation to the invasion of Ukraine”.
The court heard they “made reference to the British embassy being burned down” in 1972 and “the same would happen to the Russian embassy, and its staff would not be safe in the State”.
Community worker Brian (53) was charged with four counts of sending threatening or grossly offensive communications via Facebook with intent to cause harm to the staff of the Russian embassy at Orwell Road, Rathgar, in March 2022, weeks after the invasion of Ukraine.
In the wake of the embassy’s complaint, Brian’s home in Newcastle, Dublin was the subject of an early morning raid.
“There was a morning raid on my house,” he said. “There was no battering rams or anything like that, it was quite civilised and, from day one, I was co-operative because I didn’t feel I had done anything wrong.”
Asked whether he was surprised the embassy staff hadn’t turned up to give evidence against him, Brian replied: “The Russian embassy made the complaint.
“But, from what I gathered yesterday, from that point on there was no engagement from them …
“I believe I would have been found not guilty [anyway]. But, maybe, there was a sensitivity on their part about what is going on in the Ukraine.
“In most wars, you only find out about the awful things that are being done afterwards.
“But in this one, there are war crimes already under investigation and there have been enough atrocities already documented …
“You’d have to contact the embassy to ask them why they didn’t turn up.
“I’m not a barrister but I presume part of the cross examination would have included the situation in the Ukraine and what exactly Russia is doing there. And that would have put the embassy officials in an awkward position.
“There are quite severe sanctions in Russia for any negativity towards the Russian army.”
Asked if he would have phrased his anti-war communications to the embassy differently if he had known it would lead to his arrest, Brian responded: “I might have taken into account how someone else might have been capable of interpreting it.
“You can text something to someone and they’ll take it differently to what you meant. I was challenging them on their actions in the Ukraine … that’s all. But some things can get lost in translation.
“I wouldn’t want to go through again what I have gone through over the last year.
“Hopefully there will be enough pressure applied by the international community to get Russia to withdraw from the Ukraine and also to get Russia to pay the reparations they have to repay.
“And I hope also that those who have committed war crimes in Ukraine are brought to justice.”
The Sunday World emailed the Russian embassy to ask for an explanation as to why they did not attend the court proceedings which arose from a complaint the embassy had initiated.
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