PRESSURE ON BRITISH TO INVESTIGATE COLLUSION EVIDENCE

2006-11-07 11:28:00.0 EST
rwin, of Justice For The Forgotten, said it was
extremely important that the report, released in Belfast
yesterday, was also launched in Dublin as exactly half of
the murders probed occurred in the Republic.

"This, for us, is a hugely significant moment, the
publication of this very important international and
impartial report," she said.

"We hope this will assist the Taoiseach in his attempt to
pressurise the British government to do something in
relation to all these cases of now clear collusion."

Professor Cassell said the British government was duty-bound
under international law to investigate the alleged state
involvement in the terrorist killings.

It was in Britain`s interests to fully investigate how "a
democracy that purports to respect the rule of law could go
so far off the rails as to have its police and army officers
involved in, according to our findings, 74 murders," he said.

After meeting Irish government officials, Professor Cassell
is to hold talks with US government representatives, the
Committee of Ministers in the Council of Europe and the
Joint Committee of Human Rights at Westminster about his
findings.

"Diplomatic pressure needs to be brought to bear," he said.

"If the British government is going to make sure that this
kind of thing doesn`t happen again, it needs to understand
how it happened this time and make sure the changes are made
to try to prevent it in the future.  We are pleased with
response we have received in meetings with some officials,
but the real test will be whether the British government
finally accepts and acts on the responsibility, which in our
judgment is clear under international law, to finally do a
full examination top to bottom, including all the agencies
that may have been involved or have information."