Rosemary Nelson (4 September 1958 – 15 March 1999) was a prominent Northern Irish human rights lawyer who was killed by a loyalist paramilitary group in 1999. It has been suggested that British Security Forces were involved in her killing, however the findings of an inquiry which lasted 15 months stated that there was no evidence of collusion between loyalist paramilitaries and the security or secret services although the report added that it could not rule out the possibility that individual members of the security forces were involved in her killing.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11]
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Nelson, née Magee, obtained her law degree at Queens University, Belfast (QUB). She worked with other solicitors for a number of years before opening her own practice. Nelson represented clients in a number of high profile cases (including Michael Caraher, the South Armagh Sniper, as well as a republican paramilitary accused of killing two Royal Ulster Constabulary officers). She also represented the Garvaghy Road Residents' Coalition in nearby Portadown in the long-running Drumcree conflict against the Orange Order and RUC.
Nelson claimed that she had received death threats from members of the RUC as a result of her defence work. Many of her clients claimed that RUC officers had threatened her through them several times. In 1998, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers, Param Cumaraswamy, noted these threats in his annual report, and stated in a television interview that he believed her life could be in danger. He made recommendations to the British government concerning threats from police against lawyers, which were not acted upon. Later that year, Nelson testified before a committee of the United States Congress investigating human rights in Northern Ireland, confirming that death threats had been made against her and her three children.[12]
Nelson was assassinated, at the age of 40, by a car bomb outside her home in Lurgan, County Armagh, in 1999. A loyalist paramilitary group calling itself the Red Hand Defenders claimed responsibility for the killing.[13] She was survived by her widower and their three children.
In 2004, the Cory Collusion Inquiry recommended that the UK Government hold an inquiry into the circumstances of Nelson's death.
Nelson was posthumously awarded the Train Foundation's Civil Courage Prize, which recognizes "extraordinary heroes of conscience".[14]
The resulting inquiry into her assassination opened at the Craigavon Civic Centre, Craigavon, County Armagh, in April 2005.[15] In September 2006 the British Security Service MI5 announced it would be represented at the inquiry. This move provoked criticism from Nelson's family, who reportedly expressed concerns that MI5 would remove sensitive or classified information.[16]
The results of the inquiry were published on 23 May 2011.[17] The inquiry found that there was no evidence of direct collusion between state agencies and Loyalists who murdered her, but that said agencies did not take threats against her seriously, effectively not investigating them properly.[17] The report also said that members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary had legitimised her as a target by abusing and assaulting her in public in Portadown two years before her death.[17] The report also said that it could not rule out the possibility that rogue members of the security forces had been involved in the bomb attack that killed her.[17]
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