Letter: Justice minister Naomi Long must resign over shocking stance on Troubles victims and her attempt to justify motives of terrorists
A letter from Stevan Patterson:
The justice minister, Naomi Long, shocked me by her comments when being interviewed on the BBC Nolan Show recently.
This was following an amendment put down by Sinn Fein to remove the word ‘innocent’ before the word victim(s).
In the interview she attempted to justify the motives of terrorists and criminals as victims because of what could have been possibly done to them or their families or friends.
This is another example of Alliance joining with Sinn Fein to try and rewrite history.
To try and make an excuse for those who perpetrated murder or criminal acts really is a new low for the justice minister. There can never been an excuse for violence and the justice minister should know that.
What she was also saying was that, as I was an innocent victim and was almost killed by a bomb, in a way it was my own fault for being beside the bomb when it exploded as there are no innocent victims - that really did hit me hard. I know other innocent victims must be thinking the same.
Because of her comments which she doubled down on, the justice minister needs to consider her position and resign at once.
Stevan Patterson, Castlederg