Northern Ireland: Judge Calls for Public Inquiries in Finucane, Nelson, and Other High-Profile Cases, According to BBC

Lawyers Committee Urges UK to Make Public Judge's Recommendations

NEW YORK - Citing anonymous sources, the BBC today reported that Judge Peter Cory has recommended that the UK government should establish public inquiries into the cases of murdered human rights lawyers Patrick Finucane and Rosemary Nelson, along with two other cases involving alleged collusion between members of the UK security forces and paramilitaries in Northern Ireland. The Northern Ireland Office has yet to comment on this report.

“The Northern Ireland Office should move quickly to confirm or deny the BBC report,” said Michael Posner, Executive Director of the Lawyers Committee. “If Judge Cory has recommended public inquiries in these cases, then the UK government should reconfirm that it intends to honor its pledge to abide by the judge’s recommendations.”

Judge Cory, a retired Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, was appointed by the British and Irish governments in May 2002 to investigate evidence of collusion in four controversial cases from Northern Ireland and two from the Republic of Ireland. The Lawyers Committee has long been campaigning for public inquiries in two of these cases—those of human rights lawyers Patrick Finucane and Rosemary Nelson. Both lawyers were known internationally for their work in representing people arrested under Northern Ireland’s emergency laws.
The Lawyers Committee believes that public inquiries in the Finucane and Nelson cases are long overdue. The UK must commit to uncovering the truth in these cases as an essential part of efforts to create a visible sense of accountability in Northern Ireland.

Patrick Finucane was killed on February 12, 1989, when masked gunmen broke into his Belfast home and shot him 14 times in front of his wife and three children. Although the Ulster Defense Association, a loyalist paramilitary group, claimed responsibility for the killing, strong evidence has emerged linking three separate UK intelligence agencies to the murder. Despite this, the UK has long resisted establishing a public inquiry into the case, and no-one has been successfully prosecuted for the killing.

Rosemary Nelson was killed on March 15, 1999, when a booby-trapped bomb exploded under her car in Lurgan, Northern Ireland. Although a loyalist paramilitary group claimed responsibility for the murder, there are many questions about Ms. Nelson's death that remain unanswered. In the years leading up to the murder, she had been harassed, assaulted, and threatened by members of Northern Ireland’s police force. The Lawyers Committee, along with other human rights organizations and UN officials, had repeatedly warned the UK government that her life was in danger. We urged senior government officials to take steps to ensure her safety. Despite these efforts, the UK failed to take adequate steps to protect Ms. Nelson. No-one has been prosecuted for her murder.

Read more about the Nelson case