Geraldine Finucane unveils new mural to civil rights lawyer Pat Finucane

'I will not accept that a review by a lawyer could ever be a substitute for an independent inquiry.'

A NEW MURAL was unveiled in Beechmount Drive, west Belfast, at the weekend ahead of British Government report into the killing of solicitor Pat Finucane, who was shot dead at home, in front of his family, in February 1989.

The report, by Sir Desmond Da Silva QC, will be published on Wednesday 12 December.

Collusion between British state forces – responsible to the British Government – and the unionist death squad that claimed responsibility has always been evident.

Pat’s widow, Geraldine, speaking at the mural unveiling (chaired by Clara Reilly of Relatives for Justice), said her husband and many others were the “victims of one of the most appalling examples of British Government policy ever to be implemented in Ireland: the policy of state collusion”.

She said the family will judge the report into Pat’s death “on its merits”, adding:

“I will not accept that a review by a lawyer could ever be a substitute for an independent inquiry.”

Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams TD said that the reason the British have worked so hard to avoid a public inquiry is because this case goes to the heart of British state collusion with unionist death squads.

“The Pat Finucane case, through its disclosure of the connections between the British Government, its military and intelligence agencies, the RUC and unionist death squads, exposes the use of those death squads at the highest level of government, its involvement in the mass murder of citizens, and in the smuggling of weapons to facilitate this.”

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