UK refuses to hold public inquiry into murder of celebrated Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane
The British government has refused to hold a public inquiry into state collusion in the murder of highly popular Irish solicitor, Pat Finucane.
Belfast-based Finucane – who represented high-profile Irish Republicans – was assassinated in cold blood in front of his family at their home in February 1989.
Finucane’s killers belonged to a unit of the Loyalist terrorist group, the Ulster Defense Association (UDA), which is widely believed to have been acting in collusion with British security agencies operating in Northern Ireland.
The government had been forced into taking a decision on a public inquiry by a UK Supreme Court ruling in February 2019 that there had never been an “adequate investigation” into Finucane’s murder.
In trying to justify the government’s decision, Northern Ireland Secretary, Brandon Lewis said an “immediate” public inquiry had been ruled out due to “other investigative processes” needing to “run their course”.
"I am not taking the possibility of a public inquiry off the table at this stage, but it is important we allow ongoing PSNI [Police Service of Northern Ireland] and Police Ombudsman processes to move forward", Lewis added.
The government’s decision drew a sharp response from the Finucane family who have campaigned tirelessly in the past 30 years to bring their father’s killers to justice.
The late Finucane’s son, John Finucane - who is a Sinn Féin MP for the Belfast North constituency - tweeted that the government’s response was “nothing short of insulting”.
— John Finucane MP (@johnfinucane) November 30, 2020 ">http://
The British Govt has again refused to hold a public inquiry into my father’s murder.
— John Finucane MP (@johnfinucane) November 30, 2020
Their response today was nothing short of insulting.
Full statement of my mother Geraldine Finucane: pic.twitter.com/iJY8RY7Rwu
In recent years Finucane junior - similar to his murdered father - has received threats and abuse from Loyalist terrorist groups.
The government’s decision is likely to have an impact beyond Northern Ireland, as both the government of the Republic of Ireland and the European Union have been applying pressure on the UK in recent years to come clean on the extent of state collusion in Finucane’s murder.
Back in September the Irish government protested that it was a matter of “significant and increasing concern” that the UK had not adequately investigated suspicious and unresolved murders during the low-level insurgency in Northern Ireland.
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