12 April 2001 Edition
State sponsored murder
BY LAURA FRIEL
The UN Special Rapporteur tasked with protecting the rights of lawyers has called for an independent public inquiry in the killings of Pat Finucane and Rosemary Nelson as the only way of establishing the truth about the deaths of the two prominent human rights lawyers.
The call came as Param Cumaraswamy, the senior UN official in charge of the cases, made his annual report to the UN's Human Rights Commission at a hearing in Geneva last week.
The Rapporteur reiterated his call for a public inquiry into the killing of Pat Finucane, who was shot dead in front of his family in February 1989 at his North Belfast home. Rosemary Nelson died in a booby trap car bombing in Lurgan in March 1999. This was the first call for an independent public inquiry into her death by the UN.
In his report the UN official criticised the British Prime Minister for failing to reply to a letter sent by the Rapporteur in September 2000. In the letter, Cumaraswamy expressed his concerns about the killing of Pat Finucane and backed calls for an independent public inquiry. Six months later and the UN investigator is still waiting for a reply.
The UN rapporteur also exposed the RUC Chief Constable's role in blocking access to information. Ronnie Flanagan denied a request for access by the UN Rapporteur to two earlier reports compiled by John Stevens into allegations of collusion.
In March 2000, during a meeting with the British policeman charged with the day to day running of the current Stevens' probe, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Hugh Orde, the UN official had requested the two reports. Three months later Orde informed the Rapporteur that his request was to be denied because the RUC Chief ``did not think it would be appropriate''.
Meanwhile, responding to criticism during the UN hearing, Tony Blair has claimed he never received a letter from the UN's Special Rapporteur or in the carefully chosen words of a Downing Street spokesperson, ``there is no record of us having received that letter''.
Curiously, this is not the only letter to have conveniently gone astray. Last year a letter criticising the British Army's decision to retain two soldiers convicted of the murder of a North Belfast teenager, Peter McBride, from the victim's family, also went missing. The family later hand delivered a six-foot letter to Downing Street.
Yet despite attempts by the British government and RUC to thwart disclosure of the full facts behind the deaths of two prominent human rights lawyers, evidence continues to emerge to support the case that collusion between British Crown forces and loyalist death squads was neither casual nor renegade but proactive and sanctioned at the highest levels.
It is now clear that the mechanisms of collusion, initially portrayed as dependent upon regrettable but inevitable ``leaks'' of confidential information from British Crown forces to loyalist gunmen, were, and probably remain, far more invasive and structured.
Collusion is now generally understood as a form of state sponsored murder. And the state's furtive response towards investigating the Finucane and Nelson killings increasingly confirms rather than dispels this understanding.
``The public should not be fooled by what is going on here,'' ran a statement from the Finucane family, responding this week to news that the trial against RUC Special Branch informer and UDA quartermaster William Stobie is about to collapse. ``The purpose of the Stevens police investigation is to thwart a public judicial inquiry into the murder of Pat Finucane.
``We can expect some further prosecutions,'' said the family. ``This has all been carefully choreographed to ensure that the police investigation and any prosecution arising from it will postpone a public judicial inquiry indefinitely.''
The UN Special Rapporteur tasked with protecting the rights of lawyers has called for an independent public inquiry in the killings of Pat Finucane and Rosemary Nelson as the only way of establishing the truth about the deaths of the two prominent human rights lawyers.
The call came as Param Cumaraswamy, the senior UN official in charge of the cases, made his annual report to the UN's Human Rights Commission at a hearing in Geneva last week.
The Rapporteur reiterated his call for a public inquiry into the killing of Pat Finucane, who was shot dead in front of his family in February 1989 at his North Belfast home. Rosemary Nelson died in a booby trap car bombing in Lurgan in March 1999. This was the first call for an independent public inquiry into her death by the UN.
In his report the UN official criticised the British Prime Minister for failing to reply to a letter sent by the Rapporteur in September 2000. In the letter, Cumaraswamy expressed his concerns about the killing of Pat Finucane and backed calls for an independent public inquiry. Six months later and the UN investigator is still waiting for a reply.
The UN rapporteur also exposed the RUC Chief Constable's role in blocking access to information. Ronnie Flanagan denied a request for access by the UN Rapporteur to two earlier reports compiled by John Stevens into allegations of collusion.
In March 2000, during a meeting with the British policeman charged with the day to day running of the current Stevens' probe, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Hugh Orde, the UN official had requested the two reports. Three months later Orde informed the Rapporteur that his request was to be denied because the RUC Chief ``did not think it would be appropriate''.
Meanwhile, responding to criticism during the UN hearing, Tony Blair has claimed he never received a letter from the UN's Special Rapporteur or in the carefully chosen words of a Downing Street spokesperson, ``there is no record of us having received that letter''.
Curiously, this is not the only letter to have conveniently gone astray. Last year a letter criticising the British Army's decision to retain two soldiers convicted of the murder of a North Belfast teenager, Peter McBride, from the victim's family, also went missing. The family later hand delivered a six-foot letter to Downing Street.
Yet despite attempts by the British government and RUC to thwart disclosure of the full facts behind the deaths of two prominent human rights lawyers, evidence continues to emerge to support the case that collusion between British Crown forces and loyalist death squads was neither casual nor renegade but proactive and sanctioned at the highest levels.
It is now clear that the mechanisms of collusion, initially portrayed as dependent upon regrettable but inevitable ``leaks'' of confidential information from British Crown forces to loyalist gunmen, were, and probably remain, far more invasive and structured.
Collusion is now generally understood as a form of state sponsored murder. And the state's furtive response towards investigating the Finucane and Nelson killings increasingly confirms rather than dispels this understanding.
``The public should not be fooled by what is going on here,'' ran a statement from the Finucane family, responding this week to news that the trial against RUC Special Branch informer and UDA quartermaster William Stobie is about to collapse. ``The purpose of the Stevens police investigation is to thwart a public judicial inquiry into the murder of Pat Finucane.
``We can expect some further prosecutions,'' said the family. ``This has all been carefully choreographed to ensure that the police investigation and any prosecution arising from it will postpone a public judicial inquiry indefinitely.''