Republican News · Thursday 13 February 2003

Cory must recommend full independent public inquiry

Finucanes make submission on 14th anniversary of killing

Wednesday, February 12 marked the 14th anniversary of the 1989 assassination of Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane by UDA gunmen, acting under the direction of the British Army Force Research Unit and the RUC Special Branch.

At 10am on Wednesday morning, the Finucane family met with Canadian judge Peter Cory in Belfast and gave him a detailed submission on the case. A memorial mass was held at the Clonard Monastery in West Belfast that evening.

Judge Cory, a retired member of the Supreme Court in Canada, is conducting an investigation of cases involving collusion, including that of Pat Finucane.

In the document, the family outlined their demand that Cory should recommend a full, independent, public judicial inquiry into all the circumstances surrounding the murder of Pat Finucane.

They further stipulated that that inquiry must be international in character;

that it should strictly adhere to relevant international legal standards and in particular the UN Principles on Extra-Legal Executions; and that the family and its legal representatives should have access to "all information relevant to the investigation".

They further put it to the judge that Public Interest Immunity Certificates must not be relied upon to prevent disclosure of any relevant information either to the Inquiry or to the family and its legal representatives.