PRESS RELEASE
16 LEGAL CHALLENGES SUBMITTED TO EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS AT STRASBOURG IN JANUARY 2024
ISSUED BY HARTE COYLE COLLINS, SOLICITORS & ADVOCATES
25th JANUARY 2024
Harte Coyle Collins, Solicitors & Advocates submitted 16 applications to the European Court of Human Rights at Strasbourg on behalf of families who lost loved ones, including 2 children, and 2 persons who were wounded during the conflict together with 1 application on behalf of a client who was subjected to torture by the police and army personnel in 1972.
It is anticipated that the 16 applications will join other cases and the Irish Government inter-state application for hearing at Strasbourg in the challenges against the Conservative government’s Legacy Act which passed into law on the 18th of September 2023.
The Applicants’ claims to the European Court of Human Rights allege breaches of Articles 2, 3, 6, 8, 13 and 14 of the Convention of Human Rights by the British government in implementing the Legacy Act. In a number of cases inquests are ongoing (with a guillotine date of 1st May 2024 for the conclusion of evidence) or decisions on inquest applications are pending, police investigations and civil claims are live and in at least 1 case a decision is awaited on prosecution from the Public Prosecution Service.
The 16 applicants include the following applicants and families of;
- Annette McGavigan (14) shot dead by the British army on the 6th of September 1971.
- Brian Petticrew and Martin Dudley who were shot and wounded by the British army in Springhill, Belfast on 9th July 1972.
- Thomas Burns who was shot dead by the British army in North Belfast on the 12th of July 1972.
- Jim McCann who was shot dead by the British army in Belfast on 4th February 1973 (New Lodge 6 case).
- Joseph McCrystal (Senior), believed to have been shot dead by an undercover British army MRF unit on 12th November 1972.
- Patrick Crawford (15), believed to have been shot dead by the army in the grounds of the RVH in Belfast on the 10th of August 1975.
- William Mailey, James Mulvenna, and Denis Brown shot dead by the British army on the 21st of June 1978.
- William Norman Smyth, believed to have been shot dead by an undercover army unit in Belfast on 24th October 1978.
- Patrick Duffy, shot dead by an SAS undercover British army unit in Derry on the 24th of November 1978
- Dermott Hackett shot dead by loyalist paramilitaries on the 23rd of May 1987.
- Sean Hughes shot dead by loyalist paramilitaries in his business on the Falls Road in Belfast on 7th September 1993.
Patricia Coyle, solicitor said today;
“We will continue to follow our clients’ instructions to fight for their fundamental right to public accountability in respect of the actions of the state and state agents in the killing, wounding, and torture of their loved ones. Such actions should not be dealt with in the shadows where accountability does not exist and where there is no correction of the public record.”
The applications are being dealt with by Patricia Coyle and Nichola Harte of Harte Coyle Collins, Solicitors & Advocates.
Contact
Patricia Coyle
Harte Coyle Collins, Solicitors & Advocates
9-15 Queen Street
Belfast
BT1 6EA
02890 278227
