There is art in everything, everything has the potential of art. However, art should not be available as an excuse for fascist killers. Michael Stone is a sectarian killer of the worst kind who has served much time for horrendous slaughter. While his most recent escapade, for which he is standing trial, may be indicative of mental health issues, it is not art that should come to his defence.
I can't believe that any 'academics' would play a role in such a charade - but if they do, I await their names and evidence with interest.
Art experts aiding Stone defence
Performance art experts are helping the defence team of a loyalist killer who raided NI's assembly allegedly carrying explosives and a knife.
A barrister for Michael Stone, 53, said he was awaiting the "academic study" ahead of his client's trial this month.
Stone insists the attack, which forced the evacuation of Parliament Buildings near Belfast, was performance art.
The former UDA gunman faces 14 charges including trying to kill Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness in November 2006.
"Experts have been engaged, they believe they can provide a report of an academic nature," said one of his defence team.
Stone is charged with possessing home-made explosives and a real or imitation gun with intent. He was also accused of carrying a garrotte, three knives and an axe and assaulting staff members who trapped him in the revolving entrance door at Stormont.
Grenades
In 1988, Stone killed three mourners at a republican funeral in west Belfast. He also hurled grenades into the crowd of 10,000 people.
In December 2006 his lawyer told Belfast High Court that he did not intend to endanger anybody's life and the explosives were not viable. The trial is expected to start later this month.
Stone, who apparently objected to the newspapers' portrayal of him as a mad Rambo-style gunman, also confessed to shooting dead three other Catholics between 1984 and 1987. He claimed the victims were linked to the IRA, although it appears that they were unaligned civilians. At his trial he pleaded not guilty, but refused to offer any defence. Convicted of six murders, he was sentenced to life imprisonment with sentences totaling 684 years, with a recommendation he serve at least thirty years.
