Calls for Independent Inquiry of King Rat Murder Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit source - Danielle Ni Dhighe Associated Press - 22 May 2002 Human rights chief calls for probe into prison slaying of militant The prison assassination of a Protestant paramilitary commander should be investigated independently because Britain hasn't fully explained how it happened, Northern Ireland's human rights chief said Wednesday. Family and friends of Billy "King Rat" Wright - whose Dec. 27, 1997, death triggered a wave of vengeful bloodshed - claim that British authorities set up his slaying inside the top-security Maze prison. And Brice Dickson, senior commissioner of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission established as part of the province's 1998 peace accord, said Britain had key questions to answer. "Even though there have been convictions in relation to the murder, some relevant facts have still not been established," Dickson said. "In particular, it has not yet been established how the gun used to kill Mr. Wright was brought into the Maze prison, nor how the killers were able to gain access to the area where Mr. Wright was killed without being detected." Convicts from the outlawed Irish National Liberation Army, an extremist anti-Protestant group, fatally shot Wright after cutting through a security fence and climbing onto a roof beside a security watchtower. Controversially, prison commanders had ordered the guard to vacate his post shortly before an INLA trio climbed onto the roof, from where they leaped into a courtyard where Wright was sitting in a prison van waiting to be driven to visit his girlfriend. One of the INLA men admitted firing five shots into Wright's chest, killing him almost instantly. Wright, 37, commander of an extremist anti-Catholic group called the Loyalist Volunteer Force, had been convicted of making death threats against a Protestant woman planning to testify against him in court. His slaying unleashed a spiral of attacks against Catholics, which in turn provoked the Irish Republican Army to break its cease-fire by killing a Protestant militant. The monthlong bloodshed claimed 11 lives and threatened to bring a halt to ongoing negotiations on Northern Ireland's future. But politicians kept talking to produce the landmark Good Friday pact of April 1998, which outlined a compromise future for the province's British Protestants and Irish Catholics. Like more than 500 other convicted terrorists, the three INLA men convicted of murdering Wright have already won parole under terms of the 1998 pact. * Irish News - 23 May 2002 LVF chief's murder: call for independent inquiry The Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission has called for an independent, international judicial inquiry into the murder of loyalist Billy Wright inside the Maze Prison days after Christmas 1997. The Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF) chief was shot dead by republicans as he was being put into the back of a van in a loyalist compound to be taken to the visiting area. Two members of the INLA (Irish National Liberation Army), who were also imprisoned in the Maze, outside Lisburn, Co Antrim, were later sentenced to life for the murder. The Human Rights Commission said it was calling for an independent, international, public, judicial inquiry into the murder following a close examination of the killing and recent case law. It said it believed such an inquiry was "the process most likely to arrive at the truth as to what actually happened on the day of the murder and as to the relevant surrounding circumstances". Even though there had been convictions, some relevant facts had still not been established, the commission said. "In particular, it has not yet been established how the gun used to kill Mr Wright was brought into the Maze Prison, nor how the killers were able to gain access to the area where Mr Wright was killed without being detected, " it added. The commission said that the state had a duty under Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights to not only protect life, especially the lives of those held in custody, but also to thoroughly and effectively investigate when a person in custody had been deprived of life. It has already been announced that the case of Billy Wright is one of six that will be investigated by an international judge, following an agreement between the British and Irish governments and the Northern Ireland parties last summer. But despite that, Human Rights Chief Commissioner Brice Dickson said it was making the call for an independent inquiry, following meetings with Billy Wright's father David and in the light of a European Court of Human Rights decision in March over the case of a man killed by a cellmate while in custody in England. "The commission is now of the view that a full-scale public inquiry should be initiated so that all aspects of the murder of Mr Wright can be thoroughly and effectively investigated, " Professor Dickson said. "The commission is particularly motivated by the fact that Billy Wright was in the custody of the state when he was murdered and that very relevant information concerning the circumstances surrounding his murder has not yet been unearthed, " he added. "We believe that Article 2 of the European Convention requires an independent inquiry in this case." The commission has previously called for a public inquiry into the murder of leading Catholic lawyer Pat Finucane because of allegations of collusion between the loyalist killers and the security forces. It has recently reconsidered the case of Rosemary Nelson, another leading Catholic lawyer killed by loyalists in 1999, and said that it would probably be issuing a statement soon. ================================================================= 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-05.24.02-23:46:10-17137