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UK undercover policing likened to Stasi of East Germany printable version

23 Jan 2017: posted by the editor - Human Rights, United Kingdom

Four women deceived into relationships with undercover officers have released a further joint statement criticising the new HMICS review into undercover policing, and demanding a full Public Inquiry into the undercover policing in Scotland. The statement refers to the undercover units as “political policing units, akin to the Stasi of East Germany”.

Full statement
One of the major concerns we have about the scope of the Inquiry into Undercover Policing is that the terms of reference are currently limited it to operations conducted by the police forces of England and Wales. It is very concerning that the activities of the Metropolitan police's spies whilst in other countries are excluded.

As women who had relationships with undercover officers, we spent time abroad with these men, whom we believed to be a friend and close partner.

We know that Mark Kennedy’s major operations involved G8 summits in Scotland and Germany, and it would make a mockery of the inquiry if these events were to be left out of its scope. Mark Kennedy spent further time with his partners, Lisa” and Kate, attending protests and meetings in Ireland, Spain, France, Denmark, Iceland and Italy, he also spent time every year of his deployment on holiday with “Lisa” and friends in Scotland. Carlo Neri spent time with his partner, “Andrea”, in Scotland and Italy. Mark Jenner spent time with his partner, “Alison” in Ireland, and Scotland.

On all of those visits abroad, the men were being paid by the Police, using the characters created within the undercover units, working with activists from the UK in these countries, continuing their deceitful relationships with us wherever they went. Therefore it would allow police to cover up whole chapters of outrageous behaviour if the investigations into their conduct did not include their activities in these countries.

The review into Undercover Policing set up by HMICS in Scotland is an insult to those of us who were spied on there. It is the Police investigating the police, with the people affected by undercover policing being given no voice. Our experience would lead us to expect a cover up. HMICS is staffed with ex-police, some of whom will return to policing with the force they are examining, and some of whom actually have links to undercover policing in Scotland. It is also limited to events from 2000. Those of us who were spied on in Scotland before that date will not even be included.

We call for a full Public Inquiry to get to the truth of what happened in Scotland, and in all the countries these undercover officers operated in. We call for everyone who was spied on to be given access to the police files held on them in all of these countries. These units were political policing units, akin to the Stasi of East Germany. They must be closed, and held accountable for their actions.

Signed: ‘Andrea’, ‘Alison’, ‘Lisa’ and Kate Wilson”

Tags: undercover surveillance, police spies out of live

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