Rajiv Menon QC of Garden Court Chambers delivers opening statement at Tranche 1 (Phase 2) of the Undercover Policing Inquiry on behalf of Piers Corbyn.
Rajiv Menon QC is leading Russell Fraser, also of Garden Court Chambers, instructed by Richard Parry of Saunders Law.
Read the full statement here.
"From the outset of the Undercover Policing Inquiry (“Inquiry”), the Non-State Core Participants (“NSCPs”) have been raising concerns about the state’s obsession with secrecy and anonymity, about the importance of the Inquiry being open and transparent, about the inability of the NSCPs to participate effectively in the Inquiry, about the Inquiry’s approach to restriction orders, witness selection and documentary redaction and the absence of any meaningful right of appeal against its decisions about these matters, and about late disclosure that does not afford nearly enough time to prepare properly for opening statements and evidential hearings...
...The NSCPs remain completely in the dark as to the nature of this challenge or the legal or factual basis for the Court’s decision in allowing the challenge, as the Court’s two-paragraph open judgment is devoid of detail. This is yet another stark example of how so much of the business of what is supposed to be a public Inquiry happens being closed doors, with the NSCPs having no seat at the table."
Read the full statement here. Watch the statement via Youtube below from 2hr 42min.
