- Rosemary Nelson
Rosemary Nelson (
September 4 1958 –March 15 1999 ) was a prominent Roman Catholic Northern Irishsolicitor .Nelson, née Magee, obtained her law degree at Queens University, Belfast (QUB). She worked with other solicitors for a number of years before opening her own practice. As a result of her defence work, representing clients in a number of high profile cases (including Michéal Caraher, the South Armagh Sniper, as well as a republican paramilitary accused of killing two
Royal Ulster Constabulary officers), Nelson claimed that she had received death threats from members of the RUC. She also represented the Garvaghy Road Residents' Coalition in nearbyPortadown in the long-runningDrumcree conflict against the Orange Order and RUC.Many of her clients claimed that RUC officers had threatened her through them several times. In 1998, the
United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers,Param Curamaswamy , noted these threats in his annual report, and stated in a television interview that he believed her life could be in danger. He made recommendations to theBritish government concerning threats from police against lawyers, which were not acted upon. Later that year, Nelson testified before a committee of theUnited States Congress investigating human rights inNorthern Ireland , confirming that death threats had been made against her and her three children. [ [http://www.unhchr.ch/huricane/huricane.nsf/45ee90b46a08ca5a802565fd004e2473/365677f0343dc45c802567360045008f?OpenDocument UNHCR press release UNHCHR] ]Nelson was killed by a car bomb outside her home in
Lurgan ,County Armagh , in 1999, aged 40. A loyalistparamilitary group calling itself theRed Hand Defenders claimed responsibility for the killing. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/297183.stm BBC News report March 1999] ]She was survived by her widower and their three children.
Posthumous
In 2004, the
Cory Collusion Inquiry recommended that the UK Government hold an inquiry into the circumstances of Nelson's death.The resulting inquiry into her murder opened at the Craigavon Civic Centre,
Craigavon ,County Armagh , in April 2005. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/4542381.stm BBC News report on inquiry] ] In September 2006 the British security serviceMI5 announced it would be represented at the inquiry. This move provoked criticism from Nelson's family, who reportedly expressed concerns thatMI5 would remove sensitive or classified information. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/5366352.stm BBC News report September 2006 on MI5 involvement in Nelson murder inquiry] ]ee also
*
Pat Finucane References
External links
* [http://www.rosemarynelsoninquiry.org/ Inquiry website]
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