Republican News · Thursday 14 February 2002

The Finucanes will have justice

This week marked the 13th anniversary of the assassination of solicitor Pat Finucane. Since his death, he has been well served by his family and friends. Today, the demands for a full independendent public inquiry into the circumstances of his killing are stronger than ever, and a wealth of new evidence has emerged directly implicating the British state in his killing.

On Tuesday, a report was published by US Human Rights Lawyers into the assassination of Pat Finucane. This again shows that

• The man who supplied the weapon to kill Pat Finucane, William Stobie was a Special Branch Agent.
• The man who admitted that he killed Pat Finucane, Ken Barrett, was a Special Branch agent who has recently fled for his life after fears of Special Branch involvement in the Stobie killing.
• The man who ordered the killing, Tommy Lyttle, was a Special Branch Agent
• The man who set it all up, Brian Nelson, was a British Army agent.

These are not old issues. The people involved in the Special Branch at that time are still there. They are still at the heart of the police force.

Their influence goes to the very core of the PSNI. Patten required that human rights abusers be dealt with and that effective mechanisms are put in place to prevent or expose such abuses in the future. Without these measures, the new accountable policing service promised under the Good Friday Agreement will never be delivered.

This issue was raised by Sinn Féin's Gerry Kelly on Wednesday when he met with Foreign Minister Brian Cowen. "Sinn Féin will not accept half measures and we will continue to engage with the two governments and the US to ensure we get the sort of policing service our community deserves and expects," he said afterwards.