FINUCANE CENTER ON MURDER PROBE Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit "Sean MacCoinnigh" "Ireland List" CORK EXAMINER Saturday, May 15, 1999 Report calls for removal of RUC from Nelson probe by Joe Oliver ALLEGATIONS of security force collusion in the murder of human rights lawyer Rosemary Nelson can neither be proved nor disproved, according to an unofficial report into the loyalist killing. But the report, drawn up by the Derry-based Pat Finucane Centre, said the murder of the Lurgan solicitor could be traced back to the demonisation of her. The report includes interviews with 50 potential witnesses, and has been put forward as strong circumstantial evidence of the need to remove the RUC from the murder investigation. But RUC Chief Constable Sir Ronnie Flanagan was adamant that the RUC had nothing to hide. Witness after witness claimed there was an unprecedented security presence near Mrs Nelson's Co Armagh home on the night before she was killed. Mrs Nelson (40) died when a bomb exploded under her car two months ago.She had just returned home from a family weekend in Donegal. The report said Mrs Nelson had been demonised as a Provo solicitor because of her work, a factor which it said contributed to her death. Northfolk Deputy Chief Constable Colin Port has been called in by RUC Chief Constable Sir Ronnie Flanagan to lead the murder hunt. Meanwhile, senior security sources and fringe loyalist politicians have cast doubt on Sinn F?in president Gerry Adams' claim that the Ulster Defence Association was behind the lawyer's killing. Mr Adams said he had been told of the organisation's alleged involvement by top unionists and also claimed that the ceasefires of the UDA and LVF were over. But Gary McMichael, leader of the UDP, the political party which represents the UDA, said Mr Adams' claims were mischievous. "The UDP is satisfied the ceasefires of the main loyalist group are holding," he insisted. Martin Finucane, launching the report, Rosemary Nelson, The Life and Death of a Human Rights Defender, at a Belfast news conference, said it was wrong to call Rosemary Nelson a controversial solicitor because of the cases she took up. ''Rosemary Nelson was not controversial; this society is controversial, Drumcree is controversial, the murder of Robert Hamill is controversial, sectarianism is controversial, death threats and intimidation of defence solicitors is controversial  and the murder of Rosemary Nelson is deeply controversial,'' he added. Meanwhile, an Amnesty International delegation visiting Northern Ireland has welcomed this week's call by the Law Society in the area for an independent inquiry into the murder as having marked a historic step forward in the impartial defence of human rights in Northern Ireland. The delegation, after a week-long examination of the human rights situation in the North, also urged political leaders, police representatives & government officials to make human rights protection a universal rather than a sectarian issue. The four-member delegation headed by Dr William Schulz, executive director of Amnesty in the US, said: ''the Multi-Party Agreement puts human rights at the heart of a just and lasting peace, but real action is needed to fulfil its promise.'' They said they had been shocked and moved by evidence that an enormous number of past and present abuses remained unresolved and were not being adequately addressed. ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytire-05.16.99-23:23:51-10943