On September 29, 1998, Human Rights Lawyer Rosemary Nelson testified before the Subcommittee on International Operations and Human Rights of the Committee on International Relations of the US House of Representatives.
In her testimony, which was broadly focused on the “United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Mission of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers”, Rosemary Nelson said, “This behavior on the part of RUC officers has worsened over the past 3 years and, most particularly, since I began to represent the residents of the Garvaghy Road area in Portadown.
“These people objected to an Orange Order march passing through their area from the Drumcree Church. Last year I was present on the Garvaghy Road when the parade was forced through. I had been present on the road for a number of days because I had instructions from my clients to apply for emergency judicial review of any decision allowing the parade to pass through this area. When the police began to move into the area in force, in the early hours of July 5, 1997, I approached police lines, identified myself as the lawyer representing the residents. I asked to speak to the officer in charge. At that point I was physically assaulted by a number of RUC officers and subjected to sectarian verbal abuse. I sustained bruising on my arm and shoulder. The officers responsible were not wearing any identification numbers, and when I asked for their names, I was told to “Fuck off.” I complained about the assault and abuse, but to date there’s been no satisfactory response from the RUC.
“Since then my clients have reported a number of incidents-one of being abused by police officers, including several death threats against myself or my family. I have three young children at home and, obviously, that’s cause for some great concern. I’ve also received threatening letters and telephone calls. And although I’ve tried to ignore these threats, inevitably, I have to take account of the possible consequences to my family and also for the staff that I have in the office.”
Friends of Sinn Féin Executive Director, Greg O’Loughlin was working in the Friends of Sinn Féin office in Washington, DC at the time and attended the hearings.
In an article he wrote for An Phoblacht then, he said, “The testimony of Rosemary Nelson, a solicitor who practices in Lurgan, made a particularly strong impression on the Committee Members. She gave a chilling account of her experiences of harassment by the RUC. She described death threats, verbal abuse, and even an account of physical abuse that she received while representing the Garvaghy Road residents. She stated that although complaints against the RUC are supervised by the Independent Commission for Police Complaints, the complaints themselves are investigated by RUC officers.” Chairman Gilman responded by saying that it sounded to him like sending a fox in to guard the chickens.”
Rosemary Nelson was murdered five months and 15 days after her testimony, killed by a car-bomb that had been placed under her car at her home.
