Sisters of man murdered by IRA visit Brussels:
Greens support
McCartney family's quest for justice
Following a meeting with the family of Robert
McCartney, the man murdered by members of the IRA in Belfast in January, two Greens/EFA MEPs today pledged their
support to a campaign to bring McCartney's killers to justice. UK Green MEP for London Jean Lambert and Catalan
Green Raül Romeva met Robert McCartney's sisters Catherine, Gemma and Paula in the European Parliament in
Brussels.
Speaking after the meeting Jean Lambert, a member of the
Parliament's Civil Liberties committee, said:
"We fully support the McCartney family's brave campaign
to bring their brother's killers to justice. It is in society's best interest for justice to be served and for
the barbaric murderers of Robert McCartney to be put behind bars."
"We welcome Sinn Féin's appeal
today for IRA members to conclusively abandon their armed "freedom struggle", but all moves to implement a
lasting peace in Northern Ireland must satisfy the McCartney family's own struggle for justice. To engage
properly in the process of building peace with justice in Ireland, Sinn Féin and the IRA must stop trying to
cover up the details of this murder and subverting the judicial process; a demand they often make of others."
Greens/EFA coordinator on the parliamentary sub-committee on Human Rights, Raül
Romeva, added:
"The climate of fear surrounding this case has prevented witnesses to the
murder from giving statements to the authorities. Every citizen of the Union has the fundamental right to life
and the right to live in an area of freedom, security and justice. These rights have been denied to Robert
McCartney and his family."
"We are ready to work with our colleagues in the Parliament to take every
effort to obtain justice for the McCartney family. We will help them guarantee that their case receives the full
attention it deserves."