Issue 195, Saoirse : Irish Freedom (July, 2003)

              IRISH FREEDOM
THE VOICE OF THE REPUBLICAN MOVEMENT
UIMH 195
IUIL
JULY   2003
http://saoirse.rr.nu   €1 (70p stg, USA $30 p.a.)
Comoradh
ROBERT
EMMET
agus
Eiri
Amach
1803
Chronology
of the Rising
Page 4
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luman rights
guilty
ALL seven judges of the European Court of
Human Rights unanimously found the British
government guilty of breaches of human
rights in the case of the death of Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane in 1989.
The Finucane family
were awarded their costs
in the case in full. It was
held that the RUC investigation into the murder
ofthe lawyer was biased
as it was conducted by
officers from the British
colonial    police    who
were accused of making
death threats against
him.
The family
spokesperson, solicitor
Michael Finucane, said
they regarded the decision as a step on the way
to a fully independent
Annual H-Block
HUNGER STRIKE
Commemoration,
Saturday. August 30
Assemble:
East End, 3pm
public international
judicial inquiry into the
deaths of Pat Finucane
and hundreds of others,
who were murdered in
similar circumstances.
The European Court
of Human Rights in
Strasbourg backed a
legal claim by Pat
Finucane's widow
Geraldine, that there
was no "effective"
inquiry into her husband's killing. The Court
also ruled that there was
no effective investigation into the allegations
of collusion by British
Crown Forces in the
assassination of her husband.
In a further finding,
the Court found that Mrs
Finucane's human rights
were violated because of
a failure to comply with
Article Two of the
European Convention
on Human Rights. The
Article states that everyone's right to life shall
be protected by law. She
was awarded full legal
costs of €43,000.
This major indictment of Britain's role in
the      Six      Occupied
Counties follows the
publication of a small
part of the Stevens
Report into collusion on
April 17 last, which confirmed what
Republicans have
always said: Britain
controlled and directed
the loyalist gangs who
killed Pat Finucane,
Rosemary Nelson and
over 1,000 civilians over
the past four decades
(see SAOIRSE, May
2003).
The last major ruling
against the British government by the
European Court of
Human Rights was on
January 18, 1978 when
it found that "inhuman
and degrading treatment" was inflicted on
the internees subjected
to "interrogation in
depth" following the
internment swoops of
August 1971.
The European
Commission of Human
Rights had earlier found
the Brits to be guilty of
torture.
There are those who
want us to believe now,
in 2003, that a renamed
'
• Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane. The European Court of
Human Rights
RUC will resolve everything in the Six
Counties. Republicans
retort that only an end to
English Rule in our
country can be the
beginning of the solution.