21 August 1997 Edition
Shanahan case to go to UN
By Michael McCracken.
Sinn Féin Justice Spokesman Barry McElduff has hailed the forwarding of a report on the murder of Tyrone man Patrick Shanahan (32) to the UN Special Rapporteur on Summary and Arbitrary Executions, and has also called for similar controversial cases to be referred to the UN.
The Committee for the Administration of Justice provided the UN with a copy of the independent inquiry report into the 1991 murder of the Castlederg republican Patrick Shanahan.
Mr Shanahan was shot by the UFF on 12 August 1991. It later emerged that the RUC prevented a doctor from treating Mr Shanahan for over half an hour, despite witness evidence that he was still alive.
The Shanahan family abandoned the official inquest in June 1996 after it failed to address many crucial issues, particularly the massive amount of evidence pointing to crown forces collusion in the killing.
An unofficial inquiry, conducted by the Castlederg/Aghyaran Justice Group published its report, which detailed the extensive security force harassment of Shanahan stretching over a period of years.
The report found evidence pointing to security force collusion in the killing, and McElduff endorsed this conclusion, saying, ``I am confident the investigation by the Special Rapporteur will also find there was RUC involvement in the killing.''
Sinn Féin Justice Spokesman Barry McElduff has hailed the forwarding of a report on the murder of Tyrone man Patrick Shanahan (32) to the UN Special Rapporteur on Summary and Arbitrary Executions, and has also called for similar controversial cases to be referred to the UN.
The Committee for the Administration of Justice provided the UN with a copy of the independent inquiry report into the 1991 murder of the Castlederg republican Patrick Shanahan.
Mr Shanahan was shot by the UFF on 12 August 1991. It later emerged that the RUC prevented a doctor from treating Mr Shanahan for over half an hour, despite witness evidence that he was still alive.
The Shanahan family abandoned the official inquest in June 1996 after it failed to address many crucial issues, particularly the massive amount of evidence pointing to crown forces collusion in the killing.
An unofficial inquiry, conducted by the Castlederg/Aghyaran Justice Group published its report, which detailed the extensive security force harassment of Shanahan stretching over a period of years.
The report found evidence pointing to security force collusion in the killing, and McElduff endorsed this conclusion, saying, ``I am confident the investigation by the Special Rapporteur will also find there was RUC involvement in the killing.''