16 October 1997 Edition

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UN to investigate harassment of lawyers

Monday morning sees the arrival of Dr Param Cumaraswamy from the UN Commission on Human Rights. He will investigate abuses suffered by defence lawyers acting for persons charged with republican activity.

In a week where a solicitor was called a ``Provo bastard'' by an RUC detective in the presence of an official of the Independent Commission for Holding Centres in Armagh's Gough Barracks and Lurgan solicitor Rosemary Nelson was twice a victim of harassment, the UN lawyer will launch an investigation into the range of RUC misconduct issuses over the past 10 years.

Mr Cumaraswamy has told the British government he wants to cover not just the abuses of defence lawyers but also RUC denial of a solicitor's presence during interrogation and the absence of video or audio recordings in holding centres. He also wants look at the way the right to silence works in the Six Counties, and how emergency laws have been abused.

The UN lawyer will also investigate the UFF murder of Pat Finucane in 1989, weeks after Dugolas Hogg complained to the House of Commons that some lawyers in the six counties were close to `terrorist' organisations.


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