W2C-002 Belfast Telegraph 2-0.txt
'Gib' case: European blow to UK David Watson

A European ruling today pushed Britain closer to being placed in the dock over the killing by SAS soldiers in Gibraltar of three IRA terrorists. The European Commission on Human Rights ruled that there was a case for the Government to answer.

It decided that the relatives'case against the Government was good enough to go before the European Court of Human Rights, and the commission will launch its own inquiries.

Danny McCann, Mairead Farrell and Sean Savage were shot dead after the SAS was called into Gibraltar in 1988 to help police there round up a suspected IRA unit thought to be preparing an attack on British troops.

The Government will have to defend itself at an international legal inquiry against allegations that the SAS operated a shoot-to-kill policy.

Before the decision, Ministers hoped that the arguments over the killings would not be re-opened.

Lawyers for the relatives have spent the last two years arguing that the Government breached Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which guarantees the "right to life".

'Worried'
Niall Farrell, whose sister was killed in Gibraltar, said: "We are pleased that an independent international investigation is to take place.
"Any investigation that will honestly look at the facts must find that Article 2 was violated.

"I would think the British Government must be very worried at this moment, because they have an awful lot to hide."

Solicitor Barra McGrory said today's ruling was achieved against a background of Government immunity certificates being issued.

"It will probably open up the whole issue again," he commented. "This is probably the most spectacular of all those cases and should attract international attention."

The decision means that the 25-member commission will now start its own inquiry into the Gibraltar case. When it completes it, perhaps within a year, reports will be sent to the relatives and the Government.

The Government argued before the commission last Friday that the killings were lawful - a view already expressed at a British inquest into the deaths.
