IAUC Condemns Egregious Display of Arrogance at Rosemary Nelson Inquiry

December 3, 2008–The Irish American Unity Conference denounces the recent comments made regarding human rights solicitor Rosemary Nelson’s character and moral integrity. It is only from a particular level of arrogance that such allegations could be deemed acceptable in a court of law.

The IAUC called the remarks a blatant attempt to subvert the truth behind the circumstances surrounding the murder of Nelson. Nelson’s family, friends, and supporters should not be put into the position to defend her integrity as a woman, let alone as a human rights attorney—especially in an inquiry purportedly set up to investigate security force collusion in her murder.

IAUC National President Kate McCabe said, “Recent allegations about Nelson’s personal life or professional misconduct not only serve to distract from the terms of reference of this inquiry—to investigate whether the RUC, NIO, British Army or other State agency facilitated her death or obstructed the investigation—they are an unmistakably patriarchal move to put Nelson’s gender on trial as a smokescreen to avoid confronting the truth. We resent the implication that Nelson herself is somehow responsible for her own victimization.

“Blaming the victim is a transparent and malicious maneuver used in this case to convey the impression that what happened to Rosemary Nelson is somehow not considered violence—that the British Government believes that she somehow did not deserve bodily integrity.

“Those who carried out this brutal murder and those who allowed it to happen must be held accountable. Will the Inquiry subject them to the same level of scrutiny as the victim in this case?” asked McCabe.

Ed Lynch, founder of the Lawyer’s Alliance for Justice in Ireland and member of the IAUC said, ”For a public inquiry to maintain credibility it must adhere to rules of fundamental fairness. The Rosemary Nelson Inquiry has forfeited that credibility by failing to follow the basic rule that only evidence with a sound foundation be admitted into the record. Rather, the Inquiry has allowed the worst type of rumor and character assassination to pass as competent testimony. Former RUC Special Branch officers and a member of the British Intelligence Service have defamed Rosemary Nelson with impunity.

“In death as in life, Rosemary’s work as a dedicated and fearless advocate for the rule of law has been trashed by state agents whose very conduct was supposed to be the subject of the current inquiry. Sadly, in the case of Rosemary Nelson, the British Government has both delayed and denied justice,” said Lynch.