Wikipedia:WikiProject Irish Republican Army/Preparation/Raymond McCartney

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Raymond McCartney (b. 1954 in Derry, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland) is a Sinn Féin politician, and a former hunger striker and member (volunteer) within the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA).

IRA membership
McCartney took part in the civil rights march in Derry on 30 January, 1972, an event widely known as Bloody Sunday. His cousin, Jim Wray, was shot and killed by the 1st Battalion of the British Parachute Regiment, and as a result of this McCartney joined the IRA several months later. On 12 January, 1979 at Belfast Crown Court McCartney and another man, Eamonn MacDermott, were convicted of the murder of Detective Constable Patrick McNulty, who was shot several times outside a garage in Derry on 27 January, 1977. McCartney was also convicted of IRA membership and the murder of Jeffrey Agate in February 1977, and was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Prison
McCartney was involved in the blanket and dirty protests, then took part in the 1980 hunger strike, along with fellow IRA members Brendan Hughes, Tommy McKearney, Tom McFeeley, Sean McKenna, Leo Green, and Irish National Liberation Army member John Nixon. McCartney spent 53 days on hunger strike, from 27 October to 18 December. From 1989 to 1991 he was Officer Commanding of the IRA prisoners in the H Blocks, and was released in 1994.

Freedom
Since his release he has been active with ex-prisoners' groups Tar Abhaile and Coiste na n-Íarchimí, and was the first member of Sinn Féin to have their own voice heard on TV after the lifting of the broadcasting ban in 1994. McCartney was arrested on 4 April, 2002 following a breach of security at Belfast's police headquarters, but released without charge the next day. Later that year McCartney appeared before the Saville inquiry on 5 September, and was the first former IRA member to testify before the tribunal, and encouraged anyone, including paramilitaries, with information to come forward. McCartney has been the Member of the Legislative Assembly for Foyle since 15 July, 2004, after he replaced Mary Nelis. On 15 February, 2007 McCartney and MacDermott had their murder convictions quashed by the Court of Appeal, following an investigation by the Criminal Cases Review Commission in 2002.