Europe and Central Asia Summary of Amnesty International’s Concerns in the Region, January-June 2007 investigation into his death had not been independent, and that it had not been conducted promptly. It also found a number of shortcomings in the procedure for coroners’ inquests in Northern Ireland, and concluded that UK authorities had hindered the application which Dermot McShane’s wife had made to the ECtHR, since the RUC had complained to the Law Society of Northern Ireland about her solicitor – a complaint which was dismissed. The Court found that this complaint had had a chilling effect on Mrs McShane’s right to petition the Court. An inquest into his death was opened in May 1998 but adjourned pending the outcome of various judicial review proceedings. According to the latest information provided by the UK government to the Committee of Ministers, “a full-time coroner has now been assigned to this inquest […]. He is now in the process of attempting to obtain further video footage of the incidents surrounding the death of Mr McShane as well as additional statements. […] This case will also be reassessed by the HET.” Billy Wright (update to AI Index: EUR 01/001/2007) In December 2006, the High Court of Northern Ireland gave judgment in the judicial review brought by David Wright, Billy Wright’s father, challenging the 2005 decision by the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland to convert the inquiry into Billy Wright’s death (the Billy Wright Inquiry) from one held under the Prison Act (Northern Ireland) 1953 (the Prison Act) to one under the Inquiries Act 2005 (the Inquiries Act). David Wright had objected to the conversion in particular because he was concerned that the power of the Secretary of State to terminate inquiries under the Inquiries Act (under section 14) would limit the inquiry’s independence. AI had opposed the conversion, in light of its concerns about the Inquiries Act (see AI Index: EUR 45/004/2006). As a result of these concerns, and in light of the Amnesty International 143 allegations of state collusion in the killing of Billy Wright, AI had jointly intervened in the challenge brought by David Wright. The High Court judge had concluded that, while he would not “proceed to consider whether the sections of the Inquiries Act 2005 are incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights”, given that the death of Billy Wright had preceded the entry into force of the HRA, the conversion decision had been unlawful, because the Secretary of State had not taken into account that an inquiry, once converted, would be less independent than one held under the Prison Act. In June, the Court of Appeal of Northern Ireland reversed the ruling of the High Court, holding that the inquiry’s independence had not been compromised by the existence of the Secretary of State’s power to terminate it. The Court of Appeal also held that a power to terminate an inquiry set up under the Prison Act must have existed, by necessary implication, and that such a power must have been at least as extensive as that in the Inquiries Act. In December 2006, it had emerged that more than 800 Northern Ireland Prison Service files relevant to the Billy Wright Inquiry had been destroyed. Patrick Finucane (update to AI Index: EUR 01/007/2006) Since the early 1990s, AI has called for a public judicial inquiry into the killing of human rights lawyer Patrick Finucane, who was shot dead in February 1989 by Loyalist paramilitaries in front of his wife and children in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Substantial and credible allegations have emerged of state collusion in the killing (see AI Index: EUR 45/004/2006 ). In 2003, the Stevens III team published a summary of its investigation into these allegations. It found evidence of state collusion in the murder of Patrick Finucane and in another murder, that of Brian Adam Lambert. It also confirmed the existence of a secret military intelligence unit known as AI Index: EUR 01/010/2007