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Kelly`s family accuse UK government of cynical abuse of power

IRNA

London, Sept 25, IRNA -- The British government Thursday was accused 
by the family of David Kelly of "duplicity" in the way it treated 
former Iraq arms inspector before his assumed suicide in July. 
Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon in particular was charged with being 
"hypocritical" in the government`s strategy of using Kelly in its 
battle to discredit a BBC report that Saddam Hussein`s arms threat 
was exaggerated to justify the war against Iraq. 
Barrister for the Kelly family, Jeremy Gompertz, gave a damning 
indictment of the conduct by the government in his closing statement 
to the judicial inquiry into the circumstances leading to the death 
of the Ministry of Defence advisor. 
Kelly`s family were not looking for "revenge or retribution" on 
any "scapegoats" but wanted to expose the "duplicity" of the 
government, he said. "Never again should someone be put in such a 
position," he said. 
Gompertz said the government made a "deliberate decision to use 
Dr. Kelly as part of a strategy to damage the BBC." This was ``a 
cynical abuse of power which deserves the strongest possible 
condemnation," he said. 
He went on to accuse Hoon of being "hypocritical" and of lying to 
the inquiry. The direction of the government and the Defence 
Secretary in particular was to set him up to give evidence to two 
committee reports into the case for the Iraq war, he said. 
Kelly was being used as a "pawn" to discredit the BBC report made 
by its defence correspondent, Andrew Gilligan, the barrister told the 
inquiry, headed by Lord Hutton.. 
He suggested that the Defence Ministry reference that Kelly had 
been "well-schooled" before giving evidence to the committees implied 
that he had been instructed to answer questions in the way the 
government wanted. 
Gompertz also criticised the government`s strategy to put Kelly`s 
name into the public domain as the source of the BBC report as 
"unprecedented" and the Defence Ministry`s mistreatment of the arms 
inspector. 
He also condemned the subsequent "media frenzy" as "unacceptable" 
and argued that its effects should "not be under-estimated." Gilligan 
himself was also censured as being "unreliable" witness because his 
accounts of meeting Kelly changed and his notes were haphazard. 
Closing speeches to the inquiry were also being made Thursday by 
lawyers representing the government, the BBC, Gilligan and on behalf 
of Lord Hutton. 
The interested parties are also expected to give more detailed 
written statements before Lord Hutton writes up his report based upon 
oral evidence from 74 witnesses and hundreds of government documents 
and e-mails. 
HC/212 
End