"When Freddie Scappaticci's nutting squad murdered suspected IRA informers the dead men's families entered a singular hell. To have a father, brother or son dumped by a roadside, bound and hooded, with signs of torture and shot in the head, brought shock and grief. But the killings also brought shame and fear because the victims were deemed to be traitors, Judases within Northern Ireland's republican community, and relatives were left to live with stigma and fear lest they too be labelled as touts."
"The publication on Tuesday of the police investigation known as Operation Kenova exposed much of this secret history and offered the victims' families an opportunity to step out of the shadows. Now I feel alive and I'm not going to hide again, said Claire Dignam, whose husband, Johnny, an IRA member, was murdered by his comrades in 1992. She had been pregnant at the time and for years lived in fear, but no more, she said."
Operation Kenova, a police investigation, exposed that Freddie Scappaticci operated as an agent codenamed Stakeknife while participating in IRA executions. Families of suspected informers experienced shock and grief after relatives were dumped bound, hooded, tortured, and shot, and also endured lasting shame and fear as communities branded the victims traitors. MI5 and other state agencies allegedly allowed killings to continue to preserve agent cover, concealing state involvement for decades. Some bereaved relatives report renewed confidence and reduced stigma after the exposure, and legal representatives say the revelations have emboldened families to speak publicly.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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