i'm getting confused (but maybe that's the intention?)...
This is very simple. The pilot is always responsible for terrain clearance under RAS or RIS.
ATC is only responsible for terrain clearance when the aircraft is under radar control.
Absolutely, and that's still the case despite some tweaking of the regs after this accident... However, I still believe the descent instruction wasn't the wisest instruction a controller has ever given; and would go so far as to say I don't have a problem with it being thought unsafe.
But did that instruction kill the pilots... answer NO, which is why the Court Marshall found Not Guilty... and it is wrong for a BoI to try to blame the controller.