The UK administration has commanded a public probe into the assassination of Pat Finucane, a solicitor from Belfast who was gunned down in 1989 by the UDA, amid complicity from UK troops. Northern Ireland’s State Secretary, Hilary Benn, made the announcement in the House of Commons on Wednesday afternoon, following a discussion with Mr Finucane’s kinfolk the previous night, in Belfast.
The Finucane family had been lobbying UK governments for a full public examination of the crime for several years, which had been consistently denied until a formal apology was made in 2012 by then Prime Minister David Cameron, for the UK’s involvement in the shooting. Mr. Finucane was murdered at his residence in North Belfast by the Ulster Defence Association, with subsequent investigations revealing state collusion in the attack.
His wife, Geraldine, who was harmed during the onslaught, alongside their three offspring, have been championing the need for a public probe, in order to ascertain the level of the security forces’ participation. John Finucane, a Sinn Féin MP and member of the family expressed their appreciation for the decision.
He applauded his mother’s continued efforts to uncover the truth about his father’s killing, thanking those who supported their cause throughout the years. The year 2019 saw Britain’s supreme court acknowledging that prior investigations didn’t conform to human rights standards. Although a commitment for a public inquiry into the murder had been given to Mrs Finucane by the UK government post the 2001 Weston Park agreement, the judiciary held that the government’s subsequent decision not to hold an inquiry was justified.
The choice of the nature of investigation now required was entrusted to the government by the court. The following year, London delayed a verdict on holding a public inquiry, insisting that residual concerns surrounding the initial police inquiry necessitated preliminary analysis by the Northern Ireland Police Ombudsman. Since then, Mrs Finucane has engaged in further legal proceedings to challenge the continued hold-ups on the matter.
Over the summer, the Belfast Court of Appeal imposed a September deadline on the UK government, mandating it to clarify the type of human rights compliant investigation it was planning to undertake concerning the assassination.